2 Deaths at L.A. hospital attributed to antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Two people have died at a Los Angeles hospital after being infected with an antibioticresistant bacteria, local media reported.

The bacteria known as CRE, transmitted by contaminated medical instruments, may also have infected scores of other patients.

The outbreak at Ronald Reagan/UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles is similar to other cases since 2012 at hospitals in the states of Pennsylvania, Illinois and Washington.

At least five other patients at the California hospital have been infected with the bacteria, which is fatal in between 40 percent and 50 percent of cases.

The hospital detected the outbreak last month during a patient examination and this week began notifying 179 other patients who may have been infected after undergoing “complex endoscopic procedures” between October 2014 and January 2015.

The CRE bacteria “may have been transmitted during a procedure ... to diagnose and treat pancreaticobiliary diseases and may have been a contributing factor in the death of two patients,” the hospital said in a statement Wednesday.

It said the patients have been offered free home testing kits and that the hospital will analyze the results.

The hospital said at least two scopes were contaminated even though it followed the indicated sterilization procedures. Some experts say the design of the scopes makes them especially difficult to completely disinfect.

State and federal authorities are investigating the outbreak as they look to devise a strategy to avoid recurrences at other hospitals nationwide.