4 Transplant Patients Die After Mold Infection Outbreak at Pennsylvania Hospital

A patient at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center who had filed a case against the hospital due to a fungal infection he contracted while at the premises has passed away.

FOX News reports that Che DuVall, a 70-year-old retired glass cutter from Perryopolis was diagnosed with a fungal infection during a mold outbreak at the hospital back in September, a month following his double lung transplant.

Reuters reports that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed in December that there were four patients at the hospital between September 2014 and September 2015 who contracted the rare and often deadly infection caused by molds. Three of them had already passed when the report was released in December.

According to PR Newswire, an infection cluster was found at the UPMC, where four cases of mucormycosis, a rare infection caused by a group of environmental mold, had occurred over the course of a year.

The CDC revealed that DuVall was among four organ transplant patients who developed the infection after spending time in a negative pressure room, where people who already have infections, are commonly placed. UPMC halted its transplant program on September 21 to review their procedures and treatments, but resumed operations seven days later. The CDC added in the report, "All infections were suspected to be healthcare-associated."

DuVall and his wife, Karen, filed a lawsuit in Allegheny County in January against UPMC Presbyterian, claiming that the hospital was negligent in their care for DuVall, and placed him in an environment that made him susceptible to such infections, which led to the removal of parts of his new lungs. DuVall passed away on Saturday, February 6.

"We extend our deepest sympathies to his family, as well as to our doctors and nurses who have worked with great compassion and skill to care for him," UPMC spokeswoman Allison Hydzik said in a statement. "We again want to reassure our patients that we have taken every possible precaution to make our hospitals as safe as is humanly possible and have followed all recommendations made by federal and state regulators."

Meanwhile, Daily Mail reports that the hospital has declined to comment on the lawsuit, maintaining that the four deaths cannot be directly linked to the mold infection, because transplant patients have compromised immune systems that place them in a higher risk of contracting infections that normal, healthy people are able to fight off.