IV bag contamination suspected to have killed 13 children in Mexico
Al Jazeera
President says situation ‘under control’ but episode marks new low for underfunded system in ‘critical’ condition.
Contaminated IV feeding bags may have caused the deaths of 13 children in central Mexico in the latest blow to the country’s ailing healthcare system, according to health officials.
The Department of Health said on Thursday that the children, all under the age of 14, appeared to have died from a blood infection after drug-resistant Klebsiella oxytoca bacteria was detected in November in three public facilities and one private clinic in Mexico state.
The department ordered doctors to stop using intravenous solutions made by Productos Hospitalarios without specifying whether the medical firm was the distributor of the IV bags that may have been contaminated. At the time of reporting, there was no comment from the company.
Officials have yet to find the exact cause of the deaths, but had investigated the presence of the bacteria in 20 children, detecting 15 confirmed infections and four probable cases. Seven of the children remain in hospital.
Asked about the cluster of cases, President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday that she had been informed of the situation and that it was “under control”.
