Bacterial infection confirmed in Alberta open-heart surgery patient
Medical director for northern Alberta to provide more details Tuesday afternoon
An adult patient who underwent open-heart surgery became infected with a bacteria that had earlier prompted a public warning, Alberta Health Services says.
The patient is being treated with several antibiotics and is doing well, AHS senior medical director Dr. Mark Joffe said Tuesday.
It's the only case AHS is aware of since it notified 11,500 open-heart surgery patients in December about the potential risk of infection related to exposure to Mycobacterium chimaera through certain heater-cooler units commonly used to heat and cool blood in cardiac procedures.
At that time, AHS said patients may have come into contact with M. chimaera at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary after January 2013, and at Edmonton's Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute and Stollery Children's Hospital after January 2012.
Bacteria can escape from the heater-cooler's exhaust system into the airflow of the operating room and infect the patient.
"In a perfect world, you might simply replace all the machines, but there would be multiple issues with that. First of all, what would you replace them with?"
Joffe said health authorities are trying to minimize the risk of infection by altering the cleaning and disinfection process, as well as working with Health Canada and the manufacturer.
"At this time, we believe the risk to be between one in 100 and one in 1,000," Joffe said. "Heart surgery is never zero risk, there are always small risks that individuals are informed about."
"For individuals undergoing surgery or for loved ones who see their family members ... undergoing surgery, what I would say is that this is not an Albertan problem. This is a world-wide problem that has been recognized."
Health authorities in other provinces, including Manitoba, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, issued similar warnings.