No, I did not read that anywhere, where did you get that info from??
Test results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate an anesthesiologist who gave spinal procedures to two Mary Rutan Hospital maternity patients on May 21 had bacteria in his nose and mouth that comes from the same biological group as the bacteria which led to meningitis in both women.
But Dr. Grant Varian, medical director for the hospital, cautioned a definitive link has not been determined thus far.
This may be as far as we get, he said Thursday after the CDC report. I understand work continues, but they have not given us a timetable on how long it will take.
MRH is not identifying the anesthesiologist, but he has voluntarily stepped aside while the investigation continues.
There are three primary care anesthesiologists with privileges at the hospital and several part time.
Hospital President and Chief Executive Officer Mandy Goble said the anesthesiologist is distraught over the infection which led to the death of Susan Ryan Finch Simpson, DPT, 30.
Mrs. Simpson and the other mother, who has not been identified, gave birth to healthy girls on May 21.
Both mothers became seriously ill overnight, and when maternity staff determined the women were not simply suffering from aftereffects of the anesthesia, they were transferred to MRHs intensive care unit and then transferred to Riverside Methodist Hospital.
Scientific tests have identified the bacteria streptococcus salivarius. It is common and found in the mouth and respiratory tract. People with the bacteria do not necessarily exhibit any symptoms of illness.
Further testing shows the bacteria in both women had identical DNA.
Dr. Varian said the CDC is using the latest biochemical processes to investigate the source of the infection.
These findings confirm the probability that the anesthesiologist transmitted the bacteria to the two patients, according to the hospital, as he was the only individual common to both women during the bedside anesthesia procedures.
In addition, it is probable that the transmission of the bacteria occurred in the course of normal respiratory activity such as breathing and speaking.
Investigators reported that nothing unusual, such as coughing or sneezing, occurred during the administration of the spinal anesthesia.
Prior to their deliveries, each woman, in separate rooms, received a bedside intrathecal injection, a spinal anesthesia given to women in active labor.
The anesthesiologist conducting the procedure did not wear a mask, a historically normal practice for anesthesiologists across the country.
Mrs. Goble said similar infection incidents related to spinal procedures are so rare, there are few studies of the events.
In the ones we were able to find, the infection rate was one in every 42,000 patients and 1 in every 10,000 patients in the other, Mrs. Goble said.
Even so, the hospital has adopted a policy that anesthesiologists and any assistant within two arms lengths will have to wear surgical masks.
Also, MRH has suspended intrathecal injections indefinitely until further review.
CDC also did not find streptococcus salivarius bacteria in the medications, ruling out those as sources of the infection.
Thus far, the CDC and state health officials have found nothing systemically wrong at the hospital.
An Ohio Department of Health inspection of the maternity ward resulted in three findings, one of which involved the lack of a surgical mask.
The other findings noted there were outdated medicine, lubricating gels, tubes and needles in the facilitys supplies and insufficient monitoring of patient respiratory rates after spinal anesthesia.
MRH has removed all outdated supplies and instituted new guidelines for inspecting supplies.
It also has revised its existing monitoring policies.
