Bacteria outbreaks in North 'under control'

Outbreaks of deadly bacteria that claimed the lives of four babies in Northern Ireland hospitals are now officially under control, the region's Health Minister has said.

Outbreaks of deadly bacteria that claimed the lives of four babies in hospitals in the North are now officially under control, Health Minister Edwin Poots has said.

Confirming there had been no new cases of pseudomonas in infants since late last month, Minister Poots said a specialist team co-ordinating the response to the emergency was to hold its final briefing today.

During a hearing with the Stormont Health Committee, it also emerged that, before the recent deaths, 26 people with the infection had died in the North in the last four years, with 80 to 95 individuals infected annually.

But senior health officials stressed that most of those people were elderly, had underlying health conditions and had not necessarily contracted the bug in hospital. In that period only one child under the age of one with pseudomonas died.

The region's chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride said he understood there had never been an actual outbreak of the bacteria in a hospital in the North prior to the recent crisis.

Separate outbreaks claimed the lives of one newborn at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry in December and three at the Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital in Belfast last month - prompting Mr Poots to order an independent investigation.

Updating elected members of his scrutiny committee on the situation, Mr Poots said there had been no new infections since January 24 and no incidences of the bacteria being found on infants' skin since January 27.

He said, as a consequence, the Regional Health Response Group set up to tackle the outbreaks would wind up its work.

"As the outbreak is now under control, this group is holding its last teleconference this afternoon," said Mr Poots.

"PHA (Public Health Agency) is discontinuing the daily updates on its website, PHA and the department will continue to monitor the situation and PHA will complete an epidemiological investigation which they are leading."

Since the deaths, traces of the infection were also detected in four other neo-natal units across the North.

The bug was found at the Ulster Hospital on the outskirts of Belfast, Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry, Co Down, Craigavon Area Hospital in Co Armagh, and the Erne Hospital in Co Fermanagh. No infants in those units contracted the infection.

In all six hospitals where the bacteria has been detected, taps and water systems were the source.

Measures have been put in place at neonatal units throughout the North to ensure that babies do not come in contact with pseudomonas, with only sterile water used in the direct care of new-borns.

The 175 taps in all neonatal facilities in the region are being replaced as a result of the outbreaks, with tests being carried out on water samples in all these units.

Mr Poots told committee members: "Let's just hope things continue as they are and there's no more cases of pseudomonas in our neo-natal wards and I am very thankful that has been the case for some time now and I trust that does give the public some reassurance that whilst this has happened, we are responding, and responding very vigorously, to mitigate against this happening again."

Mr Poots has claimed that health trusts may not have acted quickly enough to prevent the outbreaks of the deadly infection.

Announcing an independent investigation into the emergencies, Mr Poots told the Assembly last month that the actions of trust officials needed to be rigorously examined.

In the wake of the baby dying in Altnagelvin, Dr McBride wrote to all other health trusts in the North reinforcing the importance of antibacterial measures and warning about the risks presented by water systems.

Health committee chairwoman Sue Ramsey (Sinn Féin, West Belfast) today quizzed the official on why the letter was issued nine days after he was made aware of a potential outbreak in Derry.

Dr McBride said at that time test results were still pending to confirm whether the cases in Altnagelvin were linked and what the source was.

He said he sent the letter before the results came to make sure trusts were alerted about potential problems.

"We did not wait," he said. "We wanted to get the information out as quickly as we could."

During the session at Parliament Buildings, Dr McBride stressed that there had been no issue with pseudomonas in units other than neo-natal facilities in hospitals in the North.

He said special ultra-violet technology taps had been installed in the Royal Jubilee hospital but that further testing needed to be carried out to see how effective they were in killing bacteria.