Superbug kills 3 UK babies
London, Aug. 31: Superbug, which is resistant to common antibiotics, has taken life of three babies at one of Britain’s leading hospitals.
The babies in the hospital’s neo-natal unit were infected with gram-negative bacteria, an official confirmed.
One died with the infection at University College Hospital, London, two of other causes and a fourth baby recovered.
The babies were among the 15 found to be carrying several types of bacteria at the unit for over six weeks. Thirteen of them had bacteria resistant to treatment with gentamicin, an antibiotic used to treat premature babies.
Of those, nine were carrying the bacteria on their skin and four had it in their blood streams. A meeting was held at the hospital on August 10.
“Development of antibiotic resistance is unfortunately a common occurrence for all neonatal units, even more so in units such as ours which care for the most premature babies,” the Daily Express quoted University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as saying. “During July we became concerned because we found particular bacteria on routine surveillance,” it said.
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