GUANAJUATO.— The Federal Commission for Protection Against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) closed one of the operating rooms of the T-21 clinic of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) in Leon, after a strange outbreak of facial paralysis in 15 patients with renal insufficiency.
According to the Social Security delegate in Guanajuato, Mark Antonio Hernandez, Currently, 10 of these 15 affected patients have already died, as confirmed on Wednesday, December 7.
Likewise, the Guanajuato Ministry of Health was aware of the outbreak on December 1, 2022, although the first was registered last October.
IMSS clinic operating room closed for patients with facial paralysis; investigate deaths
Daniel Alberto Díaz Martínez, Secretary of Health of Guanajuato, reported having received an IMSS report on an outbreak of facial paralysis in 15 patients hospitalized at the T-21 Social Security clinic in León.
The official indicated that most of the patients were men and received medical care renal problems, since they had affectations in their nervous system, which led to a facial paralysis.
Similarly, the Secretary of Health of that state explained that it was a atypical behavior, and that is why an investigation was launched to find out if there is any contaminating agent in the hospital and thus determine what is the cause of why the paralysis in these people.
It is estimated that these cases have been presented in the last two months and just this week the IMSS communicated it to the Guanajuato Ministry of Health.
The Social Security delegate assured that there is already a group of experts who investigate case by case to determine if the deaths to do with a possible neurological problem that caused the facial paralysis or if they were complications from kidney damage.
Likewise, the federal official pointed out that crops are being grown in all areas of the T-21 clinic, but no virus or bacteria had been detected that could trigger this outbreak.
“Until this moment no agent detected in the cultures that were carried out on the surfaces of the hospital, even the taps, the handles, the doors of the hospital areas, the medicines, the healing material and even the cultures of the patients themselves”, assured the delegate of the IMSS.
Cofepris closes IMSS operating rooms in León, Guanajuato
The Federal Commission for Protection Against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) closed one of the operating rooms from the IMSS T-21 clinic, according to Social Security workers.
It was also reported that the closing seals They were placed last Thursday night, December 8, as part of the investigation being carried out before the outbreak of facial paralysis cases in 15 patients with renal failure attended by the IMSS.
So far, the IMSS Delegation in Guanajuato has not ruled on the matter, however, the Secretary of Health, Daniel Díaz Martínez, when the results of the investigation are available, the cause of deaths can be made known.
In the same way, he pointed out that the information related to the case is being analyzed in the State Committee for Epidemiological Surveillance, where authorities from the IMSS and Protection against Sanitary Risks participate.
“We will make it known after the concentration of the information that is given in the technical report, the information will already come of an official nature, but at this moment they are working on it…”, said Dr. Díaz Martínez.
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