Bacteria-infected baby dies at Glasgow 'super-hospital' Published duration 3 November 2015

image copyright NHS GGC image caption The Royal Hospital for Children sits alongside the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital

A baby has died at Scotland's newest "super-hospital" campus after becoming infected with harmful bacteria.

The baby died in a maternity unit linked to the new Glasgow Royal Hospital for Children at the weekend after contracting Serratia marcescens.

The baby was premature and had "existing complex medical problems".

The bacteria are also present in five other babies in the maternity unit, and seven who have left hospital, but none is giving cause for concern.

Alan Mathers, chief of medicine for women and children's services at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GGC), said: "Our deepest sympathies are with the family of the baby who has so sadly passed away.

Babies vulnerable

"Serratia marcescens can be naturally occurring in the gut and its presence on or in the body (colonisation) is not harmful in healthy people.

"However, given the vulnerability of premature babies, Serratia marcescens infections, where the colonised bacteria gets into the bloodstream, can occur."

What is Serratia marcescens?

It is a common bacterium which is not normally harmful to healthy people.

It often exists in the gut, particularly in children, as well as in the urinary tracts and respiratory systems of hospitalised adults.

It is also common in the environment, for example, Serratia marcescens often appears as a pink-orange mould in bathrooms, and feeds off soap scum and shampoo residue.

In the eyes, it may also cause infective conjunctivitis, an infection that causes severe itching under the eyelid.

The US military used the bacterium during the Cold War to simulate biological warfare by bursting balloons of it over urban areas of California.

Mr Mathers said that none of the five babies in the neonatal unit, who are colonised, was giving cause for concern.

He added: "Since the increase in incidence of Serratia marcescens colonisation cases was indentified as part of our routine surveillance we have been closely monitoring the situation in line with national guidance.

"Given that there are no other cases of infection and that all the appropriate infection control procedures are in place the unit will continue to admit new patients as normal.

"Our staff are in communication with the families to keep them fully informed."

NHS GGC said that it had identified a small increase in Serratia marcescens colonisation cases in July during "routine surveillance".

The neonatal unit where the baby died opened in 2009 as part of the redevelopment of the former Southern General Maternity Unit.

It is now linked to the maternity unit at the Royal Hospital for Children, which is part of the £842m new "super-hospital" campus, which also includes the new Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.