Intravenous fluids infected

September 22, 2008

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A doctor from a team investigating the weekend deaths of 13 newborns at a hospital in western Turkey said Monday that the deaths were a result of an infection spread by IV treatment, the private Dogan news agency reported. The babies — all of them premature — died late Saturday and early Sunday at Izmir’s Tepecik hospital.

It was the second such incident in Turkey in three months.

In July, more than 27 newborns died of an infection at a hospital for high-risk births in the capital, Ankara. Government-appointed doctors investigating the deaths said a staff shortage had increased the risk of infection.

Recep Ozturk, a doctor at Istanbul’s Cerrahpasa University Hospital, said preliminary results of the investigation indicated that an infection caused the latest deaths, Dogan reported. Ozturk, who spoke on behalf of the group of doctors investigating the case, said the babies were infected following IV treatment. He said the infection appeared to be spread by intravenous solution, Dogan reported.

Click here for the full story on Associated Press.

Update 6th October 2008.