Baby dies and two more fall ill after being infected by contaminated drips at London hospital

 
No risk: All babies on the unit are being screened for the bacterium as a precaution, said a hospital spokeswoman
Gareth Vipers5 June 2014

A baby being treated at a London intensive care unit has died after being infected by a suspected contaminated drip.

The baby died from blood poisoning whilst being treated in the neonatal intensive care unit at St Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth.

Three babies have been affected by the infection at the hospital, with the other two responding well to antibiotics, a spokeswoman for Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust said.

A total of 15 babies in six hospitals across England have developed septicaemia after being infected with the bacteria known as Bacillus cereus, Public Health England said.

PHE said the cases have been "strongly linked" with a number of batches of a particular form of intravenous liquid called parenteral nutrition, which was given to the babies.

The baby died on June 1 at St Thomas', having been diagnosed when the infection was discovered on May 31.

There are also four cases at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and one at the Whittington Hospital; three at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, two at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge and two at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital in Bedfordshire.

All are responding well to antibiotics and their parents have been informed, the hospitals said.

Parenteral nutrition, manufactured by ITH Pharma Limited, is supposed to deliver a variety of nutrients intravenously when a baby is unable to eat on its own.

The PHE spokeswoman said investigations with the company have identified "an incident that might have caused the contamination".

"Many of the babies were premature and very vulnerable and one baby has sadly died but the others are responding to antibiotic treatment," the PHE spokeswoman said.

She said PHE and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) confirmed that an investigation has been launched into the issue.

The manufacturer has issued a recall and the MHRA has issued an alert to draw attention to that product recall.

PHE said doctors have also been given advice on identifying any potential cases of infection and how to dispose of affected stock.

"This is a very unfortunate incident and PHE have been working closely with the MHRA to investigate how these babies could have become infected," PHE's incident director, Professor Mike Catchpole, said.

"Given that the bacteria is widely spread in the environment, we are continuing to investigate any other potential sources of infection. However, all our investigations to date indicate that the likely source of the infection has been identified.

"We have acted quickly to investigate this issue alongside the MHRA and we have taken action to ensure that the affected batches and any remaining stock of this medicine is not being used in hospitals."

Adam Burgess, manager of the MHRA's defective medicines reporting centre, said: "Patient safety is our top priority and we are working alongside PHE to establish what has happened. We have sent inspectors to the manufacturer's facility to carry out a detailed and rigorous inspection and we have ensured that the potentially affected medicine is recalled."

Additional reporting by the Press Association

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