Baby dies of blood poisoning from drips
A baby died from blood poisoning after being infected by a suspected contaminated drip.
The drip is given to sustain premature babies in the early days of life before they can be fed normally.
The baby, who was being treated in the neonatal intensive care unit at St Thomas' Hospital in London, died on June 1 after the infection was discovered the day before.
14 other babies across England, in six different hospitals, have developed septicaemia after being infected with the bacteria known as Bacillus cereus.
Public Health England said they have put in screenings for the bacterium for all babies and will only cease them when they are sure that no baby is at risk and that the babies affected elsewhere were responding to antibiotic treatment.
A spokesman for Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said: "It appears to have been a one-off incident of contamination and no other batches are affected. We have issued a Class 1 alert to ensure this batch is not used, if any remains in circulation, but its expiry date has passed."
"Doctors have been given advice on what steps they need to take to identify any potential cases of infection and how to dispose of affected stock."
Health officials are investigating the contamination at a pharmaceutical plant in north-west London.
Professor Mike Catchpole, Public Health England (PHE) incident director, 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 ensure that the affected batches and any remaining stock of this medicine is not being used in hospitals."
Adam Burgess, the MHRA’s manager of the 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 rigorous inspection and we have ensured that the potentially affected medicine is recalled."
Source: Huffington Post, Daily Mail
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