Infections from contaminated duodenoscopes higher than previously estimated

Editor's Note

A new congressional investigation shows that the number of infections from contaminated duodenoscopes is much higher than previously estimated, the April 15 Los Angeles Times reports.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told investigators that from 300 to 350 patients at 41 facilities in the US and abroad were infected or exposed to contaminated duodenoscopes from January 1, 2010 to October 31, 2015.

The FDA supplied the new information in response to a yearlong inquiry by the House Oversight and Government Reform committee.

The number of potentially deadly infections from contaminated medical scopes is far higher than what federal officials previously estimated, a new congressional investigation shows. As many as 350 patients at 41 medical facilities in the U.S. and worldwide were infected or exposed to tainted gastrointestinal scopes from Jan. 1, 2010, to Oct.