( CNN ) Dr. John Allen , a gastroenterologist , had to morph into a detective when 10 of his patients came down with the exact same type of rare bacterial infection . Alarmed and mystified , he and his colleagues rushed to find the source of the highly lethal superbug . The culprit , it turned out , was in his own office : a device called a duodenoscope used to check out tiny ducts in the intestinal tract . The pseudomonas bacteria had somehow evaded the standard cleaning process , and it infected one patient after another . If this sounds familiar , it 's because duodeonoscopes were also the cause of recent infections and deaths at UCLA . But Allen 's patients in Minnesota were infected in 1987 -- and now doctors and members of Congress say they 're concerned the Food and Drug Administration might have missed the problem for decades . CRE outbreak : You 're due to go in for a procedure . Should you ? `` This problem has been known since at least 1987 , '' said Allen , the president of the American Gastroenterological Association . `` It certainly is disturbing that a fundamental design issue with these scopes would cause problems for this long . '' On Thursday , the FDA issued advice to hospitals that in addition to following the manufacturer 's cleaning instructions , they should `` meticulously '' clean by hand the specific portion of the device believed to harbor the bacteria . According to FDA spokewoman Leslie Wooldridge , this is the first time the FDA communicated such advice for duodenoscopes . On Monday , Rep. Ted Lieu , D-California , called for congressional hearings . `` For the life of me , I do n't understand why the FDA did n't issue this advice until now , '' he said . `` I want to know what the FDA knew and when did they know it . '' Understanding CRE , the 'nightmare ' superbug . Dr. William Maisel , deputy director of science and chief scientist at the FDA 's Center for Devices and Radiological Health , said it was n't until 2013 that there was `` convincing evidence '' that duodenoscopes could harbor antibiotic-resistant infections even when the manufacturer 's cleaning instructions were followed properly , and the agency issued the advisory last week after doing research `` so we felt we understood the issue sufficiently . '' Over the years , the FDA also received dozens of reports about infections from duodenoscopes . `` We receive a million adverse event reports [ on various devices ] each year , and we evaluate the reports based on the information that 's provided , '' he said . But outside the FDA , there was significant concern before 2013 that duodenoscopes -- in particular a small mechanism called the elevator wire -- were difficult if not impossible to clean thoroughly . In 2010 , safety expert Lawrence Muscarella published an article in the journal Endoscopy calling for special attention to the elevator wire , and in 2011 , a consortium of medical societies warned that automatic cleaning processes did n't always effectively disinfect duodenoscopes and so manual cleaning should be performed . But some experts question whether even the most meticulous and diligent manual cleaning will get all the bacteria . After an outbreak in 2013 , a hospital in Illinois tried to get the highly lethal superbug CRE out of a duodenoscope and failed , according to Allen . `` They really went to extremes , but they still could n't decontaminate the scope , and they finally had to just destroy it , '' said Allen , now the clinical chief of digestive diseases at Yale School of Medicine . Doctors hope that manufacturers will come up with a plan soon . `` I do think it will take a redesign of the scope to solve the problem , or new sterilization technology , '' said Dr. Bret Peterson , a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic and lead author of the 2011 guidelines from the medical societies . Olympus , which manufactured the scope used at UCLA , did not respond to CNN 's requests for comments specific to this story . `` This is clearly a matter that needs addressing , '' said Dr. John Greene , an infectious disease expert at the Moffitt Cancer Center who published an article in 2013 on a duodenoscope outbreak in Tampa . `` We really should have done this sooner . ''
They were the cause of recent superbug infections and deaths at UCLA . The FDA issued cleaning guidance last year . Doctors say they ' ve known about the dangers of using them at least since then .