It was a year ago Tuesday that Earl W. Foster died after getting six lung tests meant to help save his life. Foster, of Troy Hill, entered Allegheny General Hospital on Sept. 9, 2002, with kidney failure and shortness of breath. Foster, 58, is believed to be the first of 16 patients infected last fall by dirty instruments. His death on Oct. 14, 2002, was the only one conclusively linked to the bacterial outbreak. Although incidents like the one at AGH capture the public's attention, a 10-month investigation by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review found that bacterial and viral predators commonly lurk in Western Pennsylvania's hospitals. Anyone recovering from surgery, using a catheter or breathing with the help of a ventilator can fall prey to the microscopic armies that can flourish in machines and equipment intended to save lives. The germs survive for hours -- even days -- on hospital rails, bedsheets and countertops. They can be spread to patients in numerous ways, including through doctors, nurses and others who do not wash their hands. The Trib found that although the threat to patients is real, hospitals keep the danger secret with the tacit consent of government health agencies and national watchdog groups that do not require hospitals to report infections to the public. "Hospitals are not places for people to stay in for long periods of time," said Dr. William L. Roper, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "It's much safer to be at home or somewhere else," said Roper, now dean of the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Infections tend to prey upon the sickest and weakest. The elderly are particularly vulnerable. Louis Brunn, of Butler County -- once a young strapping man -- developed a staph infection that was resistant to antibiotics. He suffered for months before he died in August. A study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association put postoperative infections atop a list of serious complications that contribute to 2.4 million extra days in the hospital each year. Hospital administrators say they are doing their best to cut infections, but patients inevitably develop them because they are weak and vulnerable to germs. Callie Lawrence's father, James Dibert, was one of the 16 patients infected by tainted equipment at AGH. She said doctors told the Cambria County family that her father's recovery from surgery to remove a cancerous tumor would take just eight weeks. Instead, he died four months after surgery. His family still doesn't know whether the deadly bacteria left by the contaminated equipment caused his death. "It would give us peace of mind knowing that someone owned up to what happened," Lawrence said.

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