The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has detected salmonella in unused U.S.-made heart sacs -- products suspected of causing inflammation in some 70 heart patients in Japan, ministry sources said Sunday.
The ministry conducted bacteria tests and DNA analysis on sacs extracted from patients who have developed mediastinitis and on unused products manufactured at around the same time, and spotted the same types of salmonella in both cases, the sources said.
Mediastinitis is an inflammation of the cavity that separates the lungs and contains the heart, and often involves development of pus around the organ. The ministry also detected staphylococcus, another bacteria, in some of the sac samples, the sources said.