Baby dead and 14 critically ill after being poisoned by contaminated hospital drips

By Mirror

A baby has died and fourteen others are fighting for their lives after being poisoned by contaminated drips.

Tonight health chiefs launched an urgent probe after the vulnerable babies, who were all in intensive care, developed septicaemia after being infected by a bug in their liquid food.

They said London-based ITH Pharma Limited, which made the liquid food, had identified an “incident” that had contaminated the batches.

The baby who died was in the neonatal intensive care unit at St Thomas’ Hospital in Central London.

A hospital spokeswoman said the infection was discovered on May 31 but the baby died the following day. She said two other babies also affected “are responding well to antibiotics”.

She added: “All babies on the unit are being screened for the bacterium as a precaution and enhanced infection control measures have been put in place to prevent any further cases.

"We are supporting the parents involved and keeping them fully informed.”

Five other babies have been infected in London hospitals – four at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust and one at The Whittington Hospital.

There are three affected babies at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, two at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge and two at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital.

The bug – bacillus cereus – causes blood poisoning and was fed to mainly premature babies who are extremely vulnerable to infection.

Public Health England said the cases have been “strongly linked” with a number of batches of the intravenous liquid called parenteral nutrition.

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

PHE’s incident director Professor Mike Catchpole said: “All our investigations indicate that the likely source of the infection has been identified.

“We have taken action to ensure that the affected batches and any remaining stock of this medicine is not being used in hospitals.”

ITH Parma has now recalled the faulty batch.

Tonight managing director Karen Hamling said the firm was “very saddened” by the baby’s death at St Thomas’ Hospital that officials have “strongly linked” to one of its products.

Both the PHE and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency have launched an investigation.

Adam Burgess, from the MHRA, said: “We have sent inspectors to the manufacturer’s facility to carry out a detailed and rigorous inspection.”

The bacillus cereus bug is a bacteria found widely in the environment in dust, soil and vegetation. The spores can produce a toxin which causes illness.

Tonight all the hospitals affected released separate statements which revealed that all the babies infected were responding well to being treated with antibiotics.

Every hospital said they have removed the contaminated food, stepped up infection control and briefed parents about the issue.