Five children infected by germs in children's hospital

Darmkeim leads to the eye inflammation in five preemies

01/03/2013

In the Asklepios Children's Hospital Sankt Augustin, according to media reports, hospital germs have emerged that could become a serious threat to the infants stationed there. The pathogens are said to be comparable to the germs that were detected about three months ago in a dead preemie in the Berlin Charité.

Five premature babies at the Asklepios Children's Hospital Sankt Augustin are diagnosed with an infection with the Serratia virus, according to recent press reports. According to the spokesman of the hospital carrier Asklepios, the pathogens caused an eye infection in the children. Although two of the affected children are still under observation, the disease was not life-threatening. The eye inflammation had responded well to the treatment with antibiotics and two of the children were already able to leave the clinic.

Search for the source of infection in the children's hospital
At the end of December, the Asklepios Children's Hospital Sankt Augustin informed the county health department in the Rhein-Sieg district (North Rhine-Westphalia) about the infection of premature babies with the Serratia germ. In order to prevent the infection from spreading, the infected babies were relocated to the maternal and child ward. The hygiene measures were tightened and the staff, relatives and parents were instructed to pay more attention to compliance with the basic hygiene rules. The washing and disinfecting of the hands is of particular importance here. Since the announcement of the infections of several preemies at the district health department on 28 December is now the search for the source of infection. The spokesman for the hospital carrier Asklepios, Rudi Schmidt, told „BILD.de“ , that „Hundreds of samples have been taken of staff, medical equipment and other fixtures such as coffee machines“ were used to determine the cause of the infections.

Germs introduced to neonatal ward
According to the results so far „it is highly probable that the germ was not transmitted via the clinic staff“, reports the spokesman for the hospital carrier, adding: „Theoretically, it could also have been a parent.“ The Serratia germs are one of many pathogens that every person comes into contact with almost every day. For preemies, however, there is a special risk of infection, because „her eyes and skin are not yet well formed.“ However, as the infections in the premature babies had caused only an external inflammation and also respond well to the treatment with antibiotics, the children had no life-threatening health risk.

Clinical germs on preemie stations a particular threat
The risk posed by the spread of Serratia germs in a neonatal ward was most recently revealed in the incidents at the Berlin Charité in October 2012. There were similar Serratia germs as in the current incident infected many preemies. One of the children had died. However, the obvious suspicion of a connection between the death and Serratia germ infection was not confirmed in the subsequent forensic examination. Overall, more than twenty babies at the Berlin Charité and the German Heart Center fell ill with a corresponding infection. Even more dramatic was the spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria of the genus Klebsiella in the Bremen-Mitte hospital about a year ago. The infections with the multidrug-resistant pathogens resulted in several deaths here and the hospital did not get the situation under heavy hygiene and disinfection measures as well as multiple station closures for a long time under control. (Fp)