Bacterial infection in heart patients linked to surgical device, CDC says.

The Washington Post (10/13, Sun, 10.14M) reports that “more than half a million patients who had open-heart surgery in the United States since 2012 could be at risk for a deadly bacterial infection linked to a device used during their operations...said” the CDC yesterday. The Post adds that “in US hospitals where the infection has been identified, officials say the risk remains low – between 1 in 100 and 1 in 1,000, according to Mike Bell, CDC deputy director of health care quality promotion.”

        The New York Times (10/13, Tavernise, Subscription Publication, 13.42M) reports a heater-cooler machine “that infected at least 12 patients at a Pennsylvania hospital last year was probably tainted at the plant in Germany where it was made,” according to an investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Pennsylvania Health Department. Investigators took samples from multiple patients and devices connected to the infection outbreak and found that they all matched suggesting they came from a single source.

        The AP (10/13, Stobbe) reports that “the contamination has been tied to 28 cases in the US, including at least four who died.” According to the AP, “The outbreaks have been tracked to certain heater-cooler devices, which are used...during some heart operations.” However, “officials think hundreds or thousands of other patients” may have also “been infected.”

        The Wall Street Journal (10/13, Winslow, Subscription Publication, 6.37M) reports that the device is called the Stöckert 3T. Dr. Bell said, “We definitely have a multistate outbreak related to this one machine.”

        STAT (10/13, Boodman) reports that in a statement, the CDC said, “Available information suggests that patients who had valves or prosthetic products implanted are at higher risk of these infections.” The data were published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

        Reuters (10/13, Jain) reports that the CDC “released an advisory” yesterday “to help hospitals and healthcare providers identify and inform patients who might have been put at risk.”

        The Seattle Times (10/13, Aleccia, 1.18M) points out that “officials with the CDC and the” FDA “issued alerts about potential infections linked to the heater-cooler units in 2015.”

        MedPage Today (10/13, Lou, 132K) reports, “After further investigating Myocobacterium chimaera infections associated with the Sorin/LivaNova Stöckert 3T Heater-Cooler System used for temperature control during cardiothoracic surgery, the FDA updated the safety warning.” MedPage Today adds, “Facilities should immediately stop using any 3T device or accessory that has tested positive for M. chimaera or has interacted with an infected patient, the agency recommended.”

        Also covering the story are the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger (10/13, O'Brien, 438K), the Greenville (SC) News (10/13, Osby, 189K), Medscape (10/13, Hand, 327K), HealthDay (10/13, Preidt, 24K), and Forbes