The mold and infection problem at Pittsburgh-based UPMC spurred another Pittsburgh hospital, Allegheny General Hospital, to look into its own fungal infection rates. AGH officials are now reporting that two heart transplant patients had fungal infections in 2014, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
One of those patients died from the infection, according to the report.
"We wanted to look back at any and all fungal infections we may have had," Tony Farah, MD, CMO of Allegheny Health Network, told the Post-Gazette. "We firmly believe in transparency, and when this issue came up we wanted to share our experiences."
This news comes after Allegheny Health Network has seen an influx of transplant patients since UPMC temporarily closed its transplant program, which has since reopened. According to a Trib Live report, AHN physicians performed seven kidney transplants in a week — the average had been two prior to this incident.