Three people died in a Pittsburgh hospital and the staff is now searching for a rare mold that might be the cause of this tragic news. A hospital spokeswoman told Reuters on Monday that the said mold might have contributed to the deaths of those people who were transplant patients and now there is also another person in "guarded condition."
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Presbyterian made a statement last month about a mold that they found in the hospital's ICU, which also prompted them to remove about 18 of their patients who were in there at that time.
CBS also reported that by Friday of last week, a liver transplant patient who died at the said hospital was discovered to have some mold-borne disease. The patient was located at a second campus of the hospital, which had no relation whatsoever with the cardiothoracic unit.
The two other patients died in the same room of the UPMC unit but not at the same time. The hospital's chief medical and scientific officer, Dr. Steven Shapiro said on his blog post, "As a precaution, we are putting all transplant patients in UPMC Presbyterian-Montefiore on a new anti-fungal medication even though there is no sign of infection in any of these patients." Shapiro Added that the said mold might not be risky for most people, but can cause fungal infections in transplant patients whose immune systems has been compromised. This mold can be on plants that are decaying.
It is noteworthy to indicate in this report that UPMC is known to work on more than a hundred transplants in an annual basis.
The hospital is doing their best to retrace the steps as to why this is occurring and Shapiro assured that they are working on taking samples of the air, linens and equipment according to WTAE.
