In several hundred cases of Aspergillus infections in Washington, patients have been diagnosed with the infection after checking in to hospitals, according to an article on the Seattle Times website.
There were 6.8 million hospital stays in the state from 2009 through the first half of 2019. Of those, hospitals reported Aspergillus infections in 4,159 cases. In more than 90 percent of these stays, the hospitals reported that patients had the infections when they were admitted.
But in 355 cases at 35 hospitals, the diagnoses were made after patients were admitted.
The hospitals said they do not think patients in these cases got the infections from the facilities. But determining this can only be done by reviewing a patient’s medical records, and it is not always clear-cut, the article said.
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