At opposite sides of Europe hospital staff are being reminded of how vulnerable neonatal patients are to bacterial infection.
Three doctors from the Hippokration private hospital in the Cypriot capital Nicosia are currently being prosecuted for allegedly causing an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in 2008 in which 11 new born babies became seriously ill and 3 died.
Meanwhile in Northern Ireland hospital officials have been trying to find the source of a pseudomonas outbreak which has affected their neonatal ward, in which at least 3 patients have been infected. The latest reports suggest that the bacteria has been found in the taps of the ward – which will come as little surprise to experts in Legionella and water hygiene as pseudomonas is a very common bacteria in water. What might be more alarming, is that the control measures which should be in place to prevent water systems becoming Legionella risks should also be effective against other bacteria such as pseudomonas.