Health Canada — Marketed Health Products · Canada · 2004-10-20
As described by Health Canada — Marketed Health Products: Archived – Risk of Serious Infection From Ultrasound and Medical Gels – Notice to Hospitals
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Archived by the issuing authority — kept for reference
Reported risk: Heath Canada is aware of several cases of bacteremia and septicaemia whose source was traced to ultrasound and medical gels used during various procedures. The cause of the problem was a contamination of the gel at the manufacturing facility and appropriate corrective measures were taken with the manufacturers to rectify the problem. This situation led Health Canada to examine current practices regarding the use of ultrasound and medical gels in clinical settings and revealed significant deficiencies: for example, gel containers are placed in a warming device, without a cap and for extended periods of time, refillable squeeze bottles are not cleaned between refills, non-sterile gels labelled for external use only are used on mucous membranes or during invasive procedures like biopsies.
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