Update: 7:36am – Two more babies have died at the neonatal intensive care unit at Suva’s Colonial War Memorial hospital.
Last month, four babies died there over a three-week period from a suspected bacterial infection.
Fiji Village reported the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation were investigating the deaths and whether the six babies all died from the same bacterium.
It said the ministry had stated that the first four babies died from pre-existing, life threatening conditions and contracted the acinetobacter baumanii bacterium, a drug resistant bacterium ranked by the World Health Organisation (WHO) at the top of a list of the world’s 12 deadliest bacteria.
The ministry said the presence of the drug-resistant bacteria was detected by the hospital’s laboratory services in samples obtained from from Neonatal Intensive Care Unit patients.
It added that the bacterium was commonly found in hospital settings and hospital patients around the world, and that the bacterium posed very little risk to healthy people.
But it said the bacteria could be a significant health risk to those with compromised immune systems.
The ministry said it was working closely with WHO and the hospital to respond to the outbreak and ensure the safety of the hospital’s most vulnerable patients.
WHO deployed a specialist team to work with the hospital to identify the source of the bacterium and to review current infection prevention and control practices.
As a further preventive measure, the ministry said it was also examining practices in Lautoka and Labasa hospitals.
A similar outbreak of this bacterium occurred within the same ward at Colonial War Memorial hospital between December 2016 and March 2017.
-RNZ
