Outbreak forces women from North to give birth in Dublin

TWO pregnant women have been forced to travel from Belfast to Dublin to have their babies because of the outbreak of a deadly infection.

Three babies have died from pseudomonas, with another being treated for it, at the Royal Hospital in Belfast. Three other babies have been infected at the hospital’s neo-natal unit. Two have been treated and have recovered, while the third recovered but later died of unrelated causes.

The two expectant mothers were due to give birth in Belfast but had to endure the 160km journey when pseudomonas struck the neonatal unit.

Pseudomonas is an organism associated with water and moist environments, and while common, it rarely causes serious infection. It can be carried on the skin.

The bug is particularly harmful to infants who are already ill. Twenty-three babies have been tested for the infection. The neonatal unit is to undergo a deep clean.

The HSE confirmed two women were admitted to maternity wards at separate hospitals in Dublin in the past few days. They were private patients whose consultants made the transfer request on their behalf. The Belfast Health Trust, which looks after the operation at the hospital, said it had not transferred any public patients and had no plans to.

The HSE said other maternity hospitals in the Republic have told authorities in the North they were willing to provide support.

Dr Clifford Mayes, a consultant neonatologist, said staff at the Royal Hospital had first become aware of the problem on Monday night and that it took 48 hours before an infection can be positively identified.

The HSE said all hospitals in the Republic have standard systems in place to detect clusters of any infection including pseudomonas aeruginosa.

There were 133 cases of the infection reported in the first three quarters of 2011.