A cluster of superbug cases that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently termed a “serious” threat has surfaced among Americans who traveled south of the border to have operations at a Tijuana hospital.

The CDC has confirmed that multiple cases of antibiotic-resistant pseudomonas aeruginosa infection have been detected among cross-border travelers, and most, but not all, of the cases had weight-loss surgery.

Half of the patients had their procedures at Tijuana’s Grand View Hospital, a CDC bulletin said. Roughly 10 stories tall, the white structure is on an upscale residential street near the U.S. border.

Dr. Eric McDonald, a medical director with the county Health and Human Services Agency, said in an email Thursday that none of the cases identified by the CDC are from the San Diego region.


Based on the pattern of infections observed, the Mexican government has closed the hospital, according to the CDC. However, Thursday evening that assertion appeared to be incorrect. People could be observed coming and going from the facility and there was no obvious sign that the building had been sealed by the government.

Approached for comment Thursday, the Baja California health administration in Mexico had no immediate comment.

Located at the end of an upscale residential street, the hospital is near the U.S. border.

The drug-resistant bacteria is listed among the most dangerous microbial threats the nation faces in the CDC’s 2013 “Antibiotic Resistance Threats” report. According to the agency, pseudomonas aeruginosa infections that have evolved significant drug resistance kill about 440 people per year and infect about 6,700.


Drug resistance is a growing problem in the United States and across the globe attributed to the overuse of antibiotics, especially in agriculture. The CDC estimates that 23,000 people die from resistant infections, and 2 million are infected, each year.

CNN, attributing additional information to a CDC official, said the total number of cases is 11. Nine of those, the network said, “occurred between August and November.”


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paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com

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