The deaths of five patients admitted to Children's Hospital in New Orleans in 2008 and 2009 has been attributed to hospital linens that infected the patients with mucormycosis, a flesh-eating fungus infection, according to a report by The New Orleans Advocate.
During their investigation of the outbreak, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered the only common denominator in all five infections was the hospital linens, according to the report.
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Mucormycosis is a rare fungus infection most often acquired by inhaling fungal spores or through cuts, scrapes or wounds, according to the CDC.
John Heaton, MD, associate medical director for patient quality and safety at Children’s Hospital, said in the report that all five patients had suppressed immune systems and were suffering from other conditions, leaving them vulnerable to such a rare infection.
"It only occurs in patients who are deathly ill. In fact, the fungus was not the primary cause of death in any of these patients. They had numerous other reasons to succumb," Dr. Heaton said in the report.
Children's Hospital has since changed its linen supply company, removed all the old linens and disinfected storage areas and sterilized linens for high-risk patients. Later samples of new linens were determined to be fungus-free, according to the report.
The CDC investigated the outbreak when it occurred five years ago, but news of the incident has only recently been revealed. A report on the outbreak will be published in Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal next week, according to the report.
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