By Lee Kyung-min
Health authorities suspect a bacterial infection was the possible cause of the deaths of four premature babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (ICU) at Ewha Womans University Medical Center in Mokdong, southwestern Seoul.
The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) suggested Monday a gram-negative bacteria infection may have caused the deaths, following a blood culture test on three of the dead newborns to determine what type of bacteria were present.
The blood was drawn by a doctor who ordered the tests six hours before the four died. The doctor suspected a possible infection because of decreased oxygen saturation levels exhibited in the three. The fourth baby was not tested as it showed no such symptom.
The four babies all died in less than an hour-and-a-half, Saturday.
Drug-resistant bacteria, typically found in hospital settings, are known to cause pneumonia, meningitis and bloodstream infections. Those with weakened immunity are particularly susceptible. The germs including E. coli and Salmonella can survive for a long time and enter the body through wounds and treatment equipment including catheters and ventilators.
“We are reviewing the hospital treatment logs of the four newborns, as well as samples collected inside the ICU,” a KCDC official said. “We are awaiting the test results which will be available tomorrow.”
Regardless of the type of bacteria, prematurely born babies with heavily weakened immune systems are prone to any infection, according to an expert.
A simple infection that would only cause an adult to get sick for only a couple of days could be fatal to newborns, according to Park June-dong, a pediatrician at Seoul National University Hospital.
The newborns could have died of pneumonia or septic shock after being infected by the gram-negative bacteria, he said, adding a more accurate assessment can be made after the test results become available.
The National Forensic Service conducted autopsies on the four newborns but did not disclose the results. Reports in detail will be available in a week.
Meanwhile, Yangcheon Police Station said it would continue questioning seven doctors and other staff at the hospital.
Officers there are open to all possibilities including medical equipment malfunction and infection from visitors or hospital staff or other newborns.
The case is being undertaken by a department whose officials are capable of conducting medical malpractice investigations.
Meanwhile, officials at the medical center are coming under heavy criticism for what parents of the babies claim was simple negligence, grounds for medical malpractice.
One of the parents said during a press conference Saturday that he was aghast at the hospital officials who cared less about the parents, but more about how damaging the media portrayal would be.
He said, “We only found out about a press conference after reading about it in the news. How could this have happened?”
The parents also said the hospital failed to promptly respond to the incident. The parents called police at 11:07 p.m., 14 minutes after the deaths, but a state-run community health center in the district only received a report of them at around 1 a.m. the following day, more than two hours later.