Olympus Warned Hospitals Their Scopes Were Spreading Deadly Infections — Did Your Hospital Get the Notice?

In October 2025, Olympus sent an urgent warning to hospitals around the world. The message was serious: the cleaning instructions for some of their most widely used scopes needed to change — because patients were getting infected, and some had died.

If you had a procedure involving an Olympus scope and got sick afterward, this warning may directly affect you.

What Olympus Said in the Notice

On October 17, 2025, Olympus issued what they called an "Urgent Field Safety Notice" for three models of duodenoscopes:

• TJF-Q190V
• TJF-Q290V
• TJF-Q170V

These are thin, flexible tubes that doctors pass through your mouth and down into your digestive system. They are used to look at the small intestine and bile ducts, and to treat certain conditions. Millions of these procedures happen every year in the United States.

Olympus said in the notice that it was making updates to its cleaning and maintenance instructions. The reason? The company said it had been conducting an "ongoing assessment to address positive cultures and infections" — meaning patients were testing positive for bacteria after procedures, and some were getting sick.

Two Deaths. Five Serious Injuries.

Buried in the Olympus notice was a troubling detail: the company said it had received reports of 2 deaths and 5 serious injuries connected to these scopes between 2024 and the time of the notice.

Olympus acknowledged that a contaminated scope could cause infections ranging from mild illness all the way to something "life-threatening, and possibly death."

The company also admitted that simply looking at the scope with the naked eye was not enough to spot problems. They introduced new rules requiring hospital staff to use a 10x magnifying tool to check the tip of the scope before each use. They also updated the cleaning process itself — removing a step that allowed the scope to soak first, and now requiring hospitals to begin manual cleaning within one hour after a patient procedure.

Why Did This Take So Long?

This is not the first time Olympus duodenoscopes have been linked to dangerous infections. Between 2013 and 2024, contaminated Olympus scopes infected hundreds of patients at hospitals across the United States. At least 35 people died in those years connected to infections tied to these devices.

Patients, families, and health experts have been raising alarms about Olympus scopes for over a decade. Despite that history, hospitals were still using these scopes — and patients were still getting sick.

The October 2025 notice was issued worldwide, meaning hospitals everywhere were supposed to receive it. But that does not mean every hospital updated its procedures right away. It also does not mean that patients who were hurt before the notice was issued have no options.

What Changed With the Cleaning Instructions

Before the update, the reprocessing manual — the guide hospitals follow to clean the scope between uses — told staff to presoak the scope in a cleaning solution. The updated instructions removed that step entirely.

The new rules also require:

• Manual cleaning to begin within one hour after the procedure ends
• Use of a 10x magnifying tool to check the tip of the scope for damage or buildup
• Following a new Visual Inspection Guide Olympus created

These changes suggest that the old instructions may not have been good enough to keep patients safe. If your procedure happened before these updates went into effect, you may have been exposed to a scope that was not cleaned properly under the new, stricter standards.

What You Should Know

If you had a scope procedure — especially one involving a duodenoscope — and you developed an infection, fever, or other illness shortly afterward, it is worth looking into what happened.

You are not alone. Patients across the country have been hurt by infected Olympus scopes. Some have died. The company's own notice confirms that infections happened and that people were seriously injured.

If you're not sure whether your situation could qualify, the 3-part qualification test takes about 2 minutes to read through. Our team — including Herb Borroto, M.D., J.D. — handles the medical review.

Sources

• Urgent Field Safety Notice — Olympus Duodenoscopes TJF-Q170V (HPRA Ireland, PDF)
• Urgent Field Safety Notice — Olympus Duodenoscopes (RAVIMIAMET Estonia, PDF)
• Olympus Endoscope Recalls — Nigh Goldenberg Raso & Vaughn
• Olympus Duodenoscope Infection Lawsuits — Nigh Goldenberg Raso & Vaughn
• Olympus Scope Lawsuit: CRE Infections & Superbug Outbreaks — Lawsuit Information Center
• Olympus Scopes Lawsuit 2026 Update — King Law