July 3 (UPI) — Seattle Children’s hospital said Tuesday one patient has died and five others have fallen ill to a dangerous mold found in its operating rooms, authorities said.
The hospital closed four operating rooms on May 18 and the other 10 on May 24 due to Aspergillus mold, but the revelations of the ill patients come in response to follow-up questions from The Seattle Times, which broke the story.
Seattle Children’s public relations manager Alyse Bernal told the newspaper in an email that three of the patients fell ill last year and three this year.
Bernal said those who became ill were more susceptible to infection due to the procedures they had done at the hospital.
“We are deeply saddened that one of these patients died,” she said.
The operating rooms will remain closed until they are safe, said Bernal.
The prestigious medical center has postponed roughly 1,000 surgeries while others were moved to the hospital’s main campus in Seattle or its Bellevue campus.
Hospital spokeswoman Kathryn Mueller said industrial hygienists have inspected the operating rooms and found issues in the hospital’s air handlers and gaps in the air filtration system, which are thought to have caused the issues with air quality, KIRO 7 reported.
She said the hospital is correcting the issues.
