[Anchor Lead]
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that three out of four infants who died suddenly while under the care of a Seoul hospital had bacterial infections. Authorities say test results suggest it was an antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but that doesn’t explain why the babies died in such close succession.
[Pkg]
The four newborn babies died at around 3 p.m. Saturday. When the babies inside the intensive care unit showed abnormal symptoms including fever, the medical staff at Ewha Womans University Medical Center Mokdong Hospital sampled blood from three of them. This was about two hours and 40 minutes before the first cardiac arrest took place. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that based on their initial blood culture test results of the three newborns, “citrobacter freundii”, which is a bacteria suspected of antibiotic resistance, was found in their bodies. Officials said they are conducting genetic analysis for an accurate diagnosis
[Soundbite] Park Gi-soo(KCDC) : “Blood tests conducted before their deaths have produced results of suspected bacterial infection. We’re trying to confirm what the virus is.”
Citrobacter freundii is an intestinal bacteria that exists in normal adults. However in rare cases, for people with low immunity, it’s known to cause pathogenic infections such as respiratory, urinary or blood infections. The bacteria is also prone to antibiotic resistance which raises the possibility of the hospital’s misuse of antibiotics being a factor in the newborns’ death. However even if bacterial infection is confirmed, it still doesn’t explain why the four newborns died at nearly the exact same time. Health authorities are looking into the case and remain open to all possibilities including medical malpractice. Officials are also following up on the condition of 12 other newborns who left Ewha Medical Center or were transferred to another hospital since the deadly incident was reported. Authoritie
Comments