Post-mortem for third baby in German hospital-deaths scandal

Aug 24, 2010, 11:10 GMT

Berlin - Investigators were waiting Tuesday for the results of a post-mortem examination on the third baby to die in as many days at a German hospital after bacteria contaminated an intravenous drip.

Two died Saturday and the third died on Monday evening at the intensive care ward at a hospital in the western city of Mainz. Their feeding solution was tainted with Enterobacter cloacae, a common group of bacteria found in the human gut and in rotting matter.

Eleven babies, mostly prematurely born, had been receiving so-called parenteral nutrition at Mainz University Hospital because they were too weak or too ill to be breast-fed.

The condition of four babies had stabilized by early Tuesday, but they remained gravely ill, the hospital said. The rest have recovered.

Post-mortem examinations of the first two babies to die left it unclear whether the bacterial contamination had been the actual cause of death, senior prosecutor Klaus-Peter Mieth said. The babies had been very ill before the contaminated infusion.

Mieth said the third baby to die had been very tiny and underdeveloped after being born in the 24th week of pregnancy.

The prosecutors are studying whether a crime of negligent homicide may have been committed. They are focussing on whether tubes in automatic equipment to mix and administer the infusions were clean.

Mieth said he was not expecting any decisive results Tuesday from laboratories doing microbiological studies of samples. At most, studies of blood samples from the first two babies to die might be complete by the end of the day.

Enterobacter cloacae is a group of bacteria that has always been relatively immune to antibiotics. The lab tests may reveal if the type that contaminated the feeding solution originated from human faeces, rotting vegetable matter or some other source.

The infusions were mixed in the Mainz hospital pharmacy using solutions from commercial suppliers.

Hospital-associated infections, in which a patient becomes sick because of poor clinical hygiene, are a common problem round the world. Most public attention has focussed on another bacteria, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Infections are often blamed on complacent staff who ignore checklists of hygiene precautions.