Staff exonerated as German baby-death clinic finds infection source

Aug 27, 2010, 13:32 GMT

Mainz, Germany - Investigators at a clinic in Germany where three babies died from a bacterial infection in recent days said Friday the source of the infection had been found and that staff were not to blame.

State Prosecutor Klaus-Peter Mieth, who is leading the investigation into the deaths, said that the probable source of the bacterial infection was an intravenous drip-feed bottle that had been damaged before delivery to the hospital.

Two of the babies, who had congenital heart defects, died Saturday and the third, a baby born very prematurely, died on Monday evening at the intensive care ward of the University Clinic in the western city of Mainz.

'We have reason to believe that somewhere between filling and arrival in the University Clinic, (the bottle) was damaged and infected,' Mieth said.

Eleven babies who were on parenteral nutrition because they were too weak or too ill to be breast-fed received the tainted infusion.

The deaths sparked debate about the state of cleanliness of hospitals across the country. German Health Minister Philipp Roesler said hospital hygiene would be on the agenda at his next talks with state health officials.