Despite Safety Alerts, Contaminated Flexible Endoscopes Continue to Put Patients at Risk (Infection Control Today)

Reprocessing practices may not always be sufficient to prevent flexible endoscopes from exposing patients to infectious organisms, including carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), and other multidrug-resistant pathogens despite efforts and recent warnings to increase the safety and efficacy of reprocessing endoscopes, based on a new study’s findings. To improve sterilization efficacy, additional actions (eg, visual inspections) or supplemental measures (eg, sterilization) may be required.