PITTSBURGH — A fourth lawsuit has been filed blaming the death of an organ transplant patient on a mold outbreak at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center hospitals.

The latest was filed by the family of Daniel Krieg, 56, of St. Marys, Elk County. Krieg died July 9 at UPMC Montefiore hospital.

Krieg had a kidney transplant in July 2015, then returned to the hospital eight months later with viral pneumonia. An autopsy determined he died of multi-organ failure due to sepsis, but also had mold in his lungs. Mold can cause pneumonia which, in turn, can cause sepsis, which occurs when the body's immune system releases chemicals into the bloodstream that can attack or compromise major organs.

The newest lawsuit, like the others, blames the mold on specially ventilated hospital rooms that are meant to decrease the spread of infectious diseases.

Two similar previous lawsuits filed by the families of other transplant patients who died have each settled for $1.35 million. A third suit still pending in the courts was filed by the family of Che DuVall, a 70-year-old lung transplant patient who died at another hospital, UPMC Presbyterian, in February.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said organ transplant patients who developed mold infections at UPMC hospitals likely got them from time spent in rooms normally reserved for those who already had infections.