Hospital Postpones Surgery After Mosquitoes Spotted

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) – Let’s leave the blood work to the humans.

That was the thinking when a woman’s surgery was postponed because a few bloodsucking mosquitoes were spotted buzzing around the operating room. The North Hills Hospital operating room was immediately shut down and sterilized, spokeswoman Bethe Spurlock said.

“We would not do any surgery with a bug in the room,” Spurlock said. “Operating rooms are sterile. Patient safety is very important to us.”

Just before Treva Black’s 7:30 a.m. surgery Tuesday on her upper arm and shoulder, she was told the procedure was being postponed because of the mosquitoes, said her husband, Bill Black.

“She kind of got a kick out of it herself,” he told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

It’s not clear how the insects got into the hospital in the Fort Worth suburb of North Richland Hills, but it appeared to be an isolated incident and no patients were ever at risk, Spurlock said. It only affected one of the hospital’s eight operating rooms.

The hospital handled the problem, said Bill Black of Richland Hills.

“It was good of them to spot the mosquitoes,” he said. “It doesn’t take much for those little buggers to get in.”

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)