Parents await test results over killer infection

The babies were treated in the neonatal unit of the Royal Maternity Hospital, in Belfast, which was closed last week to undergo specialist cleaning as experts tried to trace the source of infection.

Northern Ireland’s health minister Edwin Poots said the number of confirmed cases of pseudomonas in babies at the Royal is six. Three babies have died and three others have contracted the infection, which affects the chest, blood and urinary tract.

A deep clean of the hospital was expected to be completed on Saturday but a helpline set up to support expectant mothers worried about giving birth at the neonatal unit was extended due to demand.

Mr Poots reassured concerned parents the Department for Health, Social Services and Public Safety was doing its best to control the outbreak.

He said: “I fully understand the anxiety of parents and the wider community; however, we are doing everything we can to ensure safe continuity of care for the babies and support for their families. Ensuring that we eradicate the source of infection and are able to fully reopen the neonatal unit at the Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital as quickly as possible remains a key priority.”

Pseudomonas lives in water or moisture and patients can carry it on their skin. The infection can be treated with the right antibiotic, but the third baby who died failed to respond to the treatment.

There are usually fewer than 80 cases of it annually across Northern Ireland and overall numbers in Northern Ireland, England and Wales have declined over the last few years – There were a total of 3,807 cases of all strands of pseudomonas reported in 2010, a slight drop from 3,888 in 2009 and 3,957 cases in 2008.

Mr Poots stressed that the neonatal unit is the only part of the hospital affected by the pseudomonas outbreak.

Delivery wards and all other services at the hospital are operating as normal, and expectant mothers have been advised to attend appointments as scheduled.