/ 28 November 2007

Manto calls for investigation into klebsiella outbreak

Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Wednesday that further investigation into the outbreak of klebsiella at a Durban hospital, where five babies died, was needed.

In a statement, the minister said she had been briefed by the management of the Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital on the outbreak and that ”reasonable measures have been taken to contain the situation. However there is a need for further investigation of the actual cause of the outbreak.”

”We can confirm that there have been seven confirmed cases and two unconfirmed cases of klebsiella at this hospital,” she said.

The hospital, situated in Durban’s Umlazi area, serves an estimated 1,6-million people and 1 200 babies are delivered at the hospital every month.

She said 26 beds at Durban’s Wentworth Hospital would be used to accommodate some babies in a bid to alleviate overcrowding at the hospital.

Meanwhile, journalists taken on a tour of the hospital, as they waited more than three hours to speak to the minister, were on Wednesday prevented from interviewing a mother whose baby had contracted the deadly bacteria.

The journalists who had been invited to attend a midday media briefing by Tshabalala-Msimang were led on a tour of the hospital by a health department official.

When the group reached the hospital’s neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU), journalists were stopped by hospital staff from interviewing a mother, whose baby is recuperating from klebsiella.

Hospital staff shouted at journalists: ”You need to speak to the hospital manager. You are not allowed to speak to the mothers.”

The woman, who came out of the NICU to speak to journalists, was hurriedly escorted away by a nurse.

By 3pm, the journalists, who had been waiting at the hospital since noon, were still waiting for Tshabalala-Msimang to speak to them.

KwaZulu-Natal health spokesperson Leon Mbangwa on Tuesday said that an investigation into the ”possible outbreak” of klebsiella was ordered on November 21 by the provincial health department.

He said that although the investigation had not been completed, a task team led by Professor Prashini Moodley of the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine identified the source of the infection as being ”contaminated intravenous medication”.

”The infectious source has been removed and the surviving babies are now doing well,” he said.

Mbangwa said measures to combat further outbreaks had been put in place.

In 2005 a klebsiella outbreak at Durban’s Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital claimed the lives of 22 new-born babies.

A subsequent investigation revealed that the outbreak was linked to a failure of infection control measures. — Sapa