CDC Investigators Looking Into UPMC Mold Outbreak

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Investigators with the Centers for Disease Control are arriving in Pittsburgh today, looking into a mold outbreak at UPMC.

Experts with the CDC and the Pennsylvania Department of Health will begin working with UPMC to find the source of the fungal infections.

Doctors at the CDC say their plan is to find the source of the problem and recommend solutions.

CDC officials are expected to arrive late tonight, but will really get into the middle of the investigation starting Wednesday morning. The team will stay until they have answers.

"Finding as much as possible about the cause of the outbreak, and trying to stop the outbreak," said Dr. Mary Brandt, of the Centers for Disease Control. "We make recommendations to the institution about how they can either stop the outbreak or improve the circumstances."

But until that is determined, it looks like the transplant program at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital will be shut down. UPMC made the decision to shut down voluntarily.

There may not be another transplant for several weeks.

"It could be a week. It could be as much as several weeks," said Dr. Brandt. "It could be two are three weeks."

UPMC confirmed the deaths of three transplant patients who had fungal infections. UPMC say a fourth transplant patient is currently fighting a fungal infection, but they are in guarded condition.

To this point, UPMC has not been able to find the source of the problem.

"We've been tirelessly culturing everything possible, hundreds of cultures around the clock. Had we found something, we would have fixed it," UPMC Chief Medical and Scientific Officer Dr. Steven D. Shapiro said. "The fact we're so clean is just giving us pause to let it go a little bit longer, and to get some of the experts from the Department of Health and the CDC to come and tour with us just to make sure it's as clean as possible or give something time to grow."

Right now, there are 11 patients in Presby waiting for transplant surgery. They are okay at this time.

But if the program is shut down for several weeks, sources tell KDKA's Marty Griffin tha transplant surgeons there are concerned that lives could be at risk.

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