Since several months mothers in Madinah have been complaining that the babies admitted to the neonatal incubator at the children’s hospital are affected by bacterial blood stream infection or neonatal sepsis.

The hospital administration has not got rid of the germs from the incubator, according to the mothers of the children in the incubator, while the health directorate did not deny or confirm it, a local daily reported.

According to information obtained by the Makkah Newspaper, 12 new-born babies have been infected with the bacteria, which led to the crowding at the five neonatal isolation wards.

The mother of one of the children at the hospital’s incubator said her child suffered a brain haemorrhage due to neonatal sepsis.

”The supervising doctor told me that my baby has been affected by the germ causing him brain haemorrhage,” the mother said, while the mother of another child said my son was transferred to the neonatal solation ward because of sepsis.

On the other hand, Consultant of Medical Laboratories for Blood Diseases Dr. Naif Sharif, denied the transmission of germ through incubators, and that the germs did not cause brain haemorrhage, indicating that the neonatal sepsis meant the bacteria presence in the blood, where the result of laboratory testing is positive in the blood culturing. He said the most important reasons for the disease is immunity deficiency, especially in preterm infants and new-borns, attributing the occurrence of the disease to weak immune system of the babies.

“It is not infectious to others in normal cases, but if not dealt with correctly it may lead to death or failure of vital functions, and disability in cases of meningitis,” he said.

SOURCE : ALBILAD