Patients warned of infection risk

More than 4,300 adults who have had open-heart surgery at the St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg since 2012 are being notified about potential infection.

“The overall risk to patients is very low and we have not received any reports of infections here in Manitoba,” Dr. Rakesh Arora, a cardiac surgeon with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority said Monday.

Arora said a device used to heat and cool blood during surgery has been linked to an infection caused by nontuberculosis mycobacteria.