EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — The Everett Clinic is notifying 2,200 patients they may have been exposed to a fungus when they were given a nasal spray with an instrument used on multiple patients.
The clinic says it doesn't appear that anyone was infected, but it's monitoring patients who were treated between last March and November at the clinic's main campus in Everett.
The Daily Herald reports (http://bit.ly/14EbSZR ) the patients were given a mild anesthetic spray in the nose for a sinus examination. Although the instrument was sterilized with alcohol, sometimes fungus remained and was sprayed into a patient's nose.
The clinic has switched to a disposable instrument to apply the anesthetic.
The fungus Acremonium could cause an infection in patients with a weakened immune system.
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Information from: The Daily Herald, http://www.heraldnet.com
