No Cases of Deadly Heart Surgery Bacteria at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital

One of New Jersey’s biggest hospitals says patients who received open-heart surgery there are not at risk of a deadly infection that has so far killed seven people in Pennsylvania.

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital officials say they are aware of the deadly bacterial outbreak of nontuberculous mycobacterium (NTM), but have reported no patients showing symptoms, a hospital spokesman told Patch Thursday.

Seven people in Pennsylvania died after developing the deadly infection following open-heart surgery, with the most recent death just announced Thursday. The fatal bacteria, NTM, has been linked to a common heater-cooler device used during open-heart surgery.

The health scare prompted the two affected Pennsylvania hospitals, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and WellSpan York Hospital, to notify thousands of their heart surgery patients that they may have been exposed to the bacteria.

Here in New Jersey, the state’s largest hospital is well aware of the problem, and did a ”thorough” review of their cleaning and disinfecting procedures for the heart-surgery heater-cooler devices, an RWJUH spokesman told Patch.

“Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital was notified by the manufacturer of a potential issue in June,” hospital spokesman Peter Haigney said. “Following a thorough review of our processes and procedures, we determined that we have strictly adhered to the manufacturer’s guidelines for cleaning and disinfecting this equipment.”

“To date, we have not identified any cases of NTM-related infections,” he added.

Penn State Hershey said it recently delayed two open-heart surgery cases so that it could replace its existing heater-cooler devices with new devices. As of Nov. 8, the Hershey-based Medical Center replaced all heater-cooler devices.

Federal health authorities believe the device issue may be widespread across the country and have issued health advisories to hospitals nationally.