“Another patient has died after contracting a fatal infection that has been identified at two Pennsylvania hospitals.
PennLive.com reports a fifth person at WellSpan York Hospital has died after contracting nontuberculous mycobacterium, or NTM, after open heart surgery at the hospital.
The infection is now linked to least seven deaths in the state. Two hospitals are warning thousands of open heart surgery patients that they may have been exposed to it.
Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center on Tuesday announced it is notifying approximately 2,300 open heart surgery patients of possible exposure to the bacteria during procedures performed between Nov. 5, 2011 and Nov. 5, 2015. The infection may have been linked to two deaths at that hospital, officials there said.
In late October, WellSpan York Hospital alerted 1,300 people of a similar infection after they learned that four people had died, likely as a result of NTM. The fifth death was confirmed this week, PennLive.com reported.
WellSpan York Hospital said patients at risk are those who had open-heart surgery between Oct. 1 2011 and July 24, 2015.
Officials at both hospitals say they have linked the bacterial infection to a heater-cooler device used during open-heart surgery.”
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