Proper Sanitation is Required for Medical Scopes

The whole idea of going to the hospital is to get cured of diseases, not to come home with new ones. Hygiene plays a crucial role in our lives and we all well aware of the benefits of a proper hygiene education. Recently, several health reports coming from the hospitals have stressed out that proper sanitation is required for medical scopes.

• In 2012, two patients died after undergoing a duodenoscopy;
• All recent sanitation issues point back to a couple of duodenoscopes;
• Olympus Corp. is the manufacturer of the faulty devices;
• The company discovered in 2013 that the devices could not be disinfected properly;
• The FDA discovered the same problem in September 2013;
• Circa 68 people contract in-hospital infections;
• Improperly sanitized scopes could harbor antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The reason behind recent debates regarding proper sanitation procedures seems to be centered on several health reports coming in from various hospital around the country. According to these reports, multiple patients who underwent duodenoscopies have developed infections.

Investigations have uncovered that these infections might have occurred due to improper sanitation of medical apparatus. Medical scopes, like laryngoscopes, duodenoscopes, endoscopes or colonoscopes need to follow some strict sanitation protocols in order to minimize the risk of a patient developing an antibiotic-resistant infection.

Failure to follow said procedures or sloppy shortcuts might result in outbreaks and even the death of the patient.

Thus, health officials have suggested that proper sanitation is required for medical scopes.

In 2012, according to an official report, 2 people have died in a US hospital after they were infected with an antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The medical board has managed to trace the problem back to a series of medical scopes, which were improperly sanitized.

The situation seems to grow tenser as Olympus Corporation, the manufacturer of these devices, had knowledge of the sanitation issue, but failed to report the problem. Moreover, it would seem that the company discovered this issue in April 2013, but it decided to wait around 2 more years before reporting the issue.

It would seem that even the FDA knew about the issue, but waited too long before springing into action. According to several sources, it would seem that FDA discovered the issue in September 2013, but, again, it failed to post a notice about the devices.

It is said that between April and September, approximately 68 patients have been infected after being submitted to duodenoscopies.

Proper sanitation is required for medical scopes and in-hospital infections should not be taken lightly. Going over the report, we can clearly see that the problem is much older. For example, in 2012, the UPMC Presbyterian hospital reported that 13 patients developed infections after being submitted with duodenoscopies.

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