The pathogen had nested in the sink used by the neonatal intensive care staff at the Hospital for Women and Children of Borgo Trento in Verona.
Doctors gave newborns water contaminated by the
terrible
Citrobacter along with breast milk
.
The bacteria has killed four children admitted to the hospital in two years.
Leonardo and Nina at the end of 2018, Tomasso in March and Alice last August 16.
The microorganism affected a total of 96 children, of which nine suffered brain damage.
The medical commission in charge of investigating the events, made up of five doctors, has revealed that the tap in the sink in the neonatology area
was literally colonized by this killer bacteria
, in addition to other pathogens, which constituted a dangerous source of contagion.
Investigators suspect that Citrobacter entered the hospital due to a lack of rigor in compliance with hygiene standards in the hospital center.
They would not have washed their hands enough or the problem would be not to change gloves
every time a new patient was treated, for example.
The first to sound the alarm was one of the mothers, Francesca Frezza, whose complaint prompted the investigation.
There are no suspects yet
.
The Prosecutor's Office will be in charge of investigating if there is someone responsible
for the water being contaminated and not sterilized.
The first controls of the hospital administration began in January and were stopped due to the coronavirus emergency.
On June 12, the general director Francesco Cobello, decided to close the delivery room, the neonatal intensive therapy and the pediatric intensive therapy and a day later appointed the commission of experts in charge of investigating the killer bacteria.
The summer has served, above all, to carry out a complete repair of the apartments, the air filter and the water.
The affected places have been conditioned and disinfected through the hyperchlorination of the water network
.
In other words, a chlorine treatment has been applied monitoring the bacterial load of the water.
Chlorine dioxide has been used in the hot and cold water to achieve maximum cleaning.
The various departments of the hospital have been disinfected with hydrogen peroxide.
This Tuesday the activity is resumed without risk.
Between September 30 and the first days of October, the different closed neonatology areas reopen, in addition to the 36 beds.
"The disinfection should have been done two summers ago, when the first cases of Citrobacter emerged,
" said the affected mother, the first to claim responsibility.
"If it were not expected so long, now my daughter and the other three small dead would still be alive."
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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