Five patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center were unwittingly infected during valve replacement surgeries earlier this year because of tiny tears in a heart surgeon's latex gloves, hospital officials said. Four of the patients needed a second operation and are still recovering. The outbreak in June led to investigations by the hospital and both the Los Angeles County and state departments of public health, the newspaper said. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was also consulted. The surgeon, whose name was not released, was not allowed to operate again until he healed. He is still a member of the medical staff but no longer performs surgeries.
