A fungal outbreak at a New Orleans children's hospital in August 2008 through July 2009 swept through the children's rooms, killing several victims. While the fungal outbreak occurred several years ago, the pain of the loss is still very present for families who watched their children pass away. A medical journal recently released a report about how the fungal infection spread throughout the hospital, highlighting the devastating outbreak once again.
According to the medical journal, bed linens, towels and hospital gowns were likely the agents that spread the fundal disease. Families of the victims wanted to know why the doctors did not connect the fungal outbreak cases until about 10 months after the first death and why the hospital did not inform parents of the danger from the outset.
While this saddening outbreak was years ago, fungal infections in hospitals are not rare. In fact, the CDC reports that approximately 75,000 patients die every year in hospitals after they contract an infection in a health care facility. All it takes is a lack of hospital infection controls and a sloppy handling of contaminated linens to spread a hospital-wide epidemic that can take many lives.
At Children's Hospital in New Orleans, the hospital workers would unload clean linens on the same dock where medical waste was removed. Clean and soiled linens were normally moved from place to place on the same cart and the stored linens were put in hallways that were covered with dust. These sloppy practices may have contributed to the outbreak.
Fungi thrive in moist environments and researchers believe that the off-site laundry where linens were cleaned may have been another contributor to this tragic outbreak. The laundry was never tested to check for mold, and the building lacked proper ventilation fans to block spores and dust that could seep in from the street.
According to an infection control specialist, linens often transfer illnesses when they are transported improperly or stored improperly. Hospitals don't typically sterilize linens except for those used in operating rooms. Hospital bed sheets and towels are typically washed and bleached to reach the same standard of cleanliness that is met by hotel laundry. Hospital linens are supposed to be transported in bags or cellophane for transport to avoid the possibility of collecting bacteria or fungi during transport. At Children's Hospital, the head of housekeeping at the hospital notified the offsite laundry to stop delivering linens in plastic bags.
Research shows that the housekeeping staff often complained that the plastic bags were cumbersome and would get stuck on cart wheels. After discontinuing the bagging of linens, the housekeeping staff discovered another problem. The linens were coming back soiled because of dust from a construction site near the laundry. Eventually, they allowed the laundry to cover the carts with plastic so that the dust wouldn't dirty up the sheets.
Additionally at Children's, some hospital staff would wash the bed linens in a machine that was onsite at the hospital. This machine was used to clean the floor mops. The chemicals were too weak and the water temperatures were too low to be hygienic.
The CDC has started their own initiative to help hospitals and health departments communicate with the public about medical errors and infections that are acquired in health care facilities. They hope that this will help to build public trust and minimize the number of errors that occur. Also, this tragedy may encourage and motivate hospitals to be more vigilant about the cleansing of bed linens. If you want more information about hospital outbreaks, or if you contracted an infection at a hospital that could have been easily avoided, don't hesitate to hire a local medical malpractice attorney to assist you right away.