State officials visit spa in chain being investigated

Pennsylvania Health Department workers visited Monarch Med Spa in King of Prussia on Monday, the company said, but have not issued findings from the visit.

Monarch's locations there and in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Greenville, Del., are being investigated after Maryland last week closed its other facility, in Timonium, north of Baltimore. The closure followed invasive group A streptococcus (GAS) infections in three women, one of them fatal, who underwent liposuction there.

A Delaware Health Division spokeswoman said Monday that it had confirmed invasive GAS in one resident, no longer hospitalized, who had "a surgical" procedure at a Monarch location in Pennsylvania. The location was not released, but only King of Prussia performs more invasive procedures like liposuction.

The state has ruled out a link in a second suspected case, the spokeswoman said.

In a news release late Monday, Delaware cautioned that invasive GAS, which may show up as a fever and infection, can be spread through human-to-human contact, even in the home. The state advised residents who have symptoms and who had a procedure - or have been in close contact with someone who did - at Monarch facilities since Aug. 1 to contact their health provider.

The Pennsylvania Health Department said no cases of invasive GAS among state residents had been linked to Monarch. A spokeswoman said the state was conducting "an active and ongoing investigation" but would not say which locations had been visited so far.

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health visited the Monarch center at the Shops of Liberty Place on Friday and found no problems.

Delaware has visited the Greenville site, the state health spokeswoman said.

Monarch said all of its locations except Maryland were open.