Infection outbreak discovered at another midstate hospital
(Hershey) — An infection outbreak first discovered at WellSpan York Hospital has also affected some open-heart surgery patients at Penn State Hershey Medical Center.
The state Health Department is now warning all hospitals to watch for symptoms of the NTM infection, including weight loss, night sweats, and joint and muscle pain.
It can take years for the infection to show up.
Penn State Hershey Medical says it’s notifying about 2,300 patients of possible exposure to bacteria that cause the infection between November 5th, 2011 and November 5th of this year.
A heater cooler device is believed to be the problem, and the state Health Department is urging hospitals to update their cleaning procedures.
Penn State Hershey says it’s replaced the devices and has set up a call center and at Penn State Hershey [dot] org [slash] open heart, to answer any questions.
A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.
