Three patients who underwent heart surgery at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia are being treated for nontuberculous mycobacterium infections contracted from contaminated heater-cooler machines used during the surgery. A fourth patient tested positive for the bacteria, but has not displayed signs of infection. According The Philadelphia Inquirer, the addition of the three patients brings the total of such infections in the state of Pennsylvania to 20.
Because of these infections, Penn Medicine is sending letters this month to hundreds of patients who may have been exposed to contaminated heater-cooler machines during major cardiac surgery.
