Deadly mold found in hospital's ducts


May 6, 2006

State officials are investigating a potentially lethal fungus found in the dirty ventilation system of Scripps Memorial Hospital-La Jolla, whose officials acknowledged that two directors were asked to resign because of the problem.

“These people are not on our staff anymore because they did not follow maintenance schedules that we put in place five years ago,” hospital epidemiologist Jeanne Shirley said.

Gary Fybel, the hospital's chief executive, said that “no patients have died, and no patients have become sick” because the problem was detected promptly by the system's early-warning devices.

With oversight from the state health department, Scripps has hired a crew to clean the ducts in the seven-story hospital.

If the fungus or mold, called aspergillus, had spread to hospital corridors, it could have killed patients. The mold has not developed spores that could become airborne, Shirley said.

The aspergillus was detected in March. The discovery led infection-control specialists to realize the duct system had not been cleaned according to the hospital's schedule, Fybel and other hospital officials said.
 
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