13 Children Dead from Tainted IV Bags, Ensued Nationwide Panic!

United States: Thirteen children under the age of 14 have died in central Mexico, with officials suspecting their deaths were caused by contaminated intravenous (IV) feeding bags.

In response, the Federal Health Department has implemented a nationwide ban on IV nutrition bags from Productos Hospitalarios S.A. de C.V., though the precise source of the infections remains unidentified.

More about the news

The outbreak was almost certain to be Klebsiella oxytoca, a multidrug-resistant bacterium.

It was first identified in November in three state-owned and one city private hospital in the State of Mexico close to Mexico City.

The department said the above children seemed to have lost their lives by blood infection, US News reported.

To date, out of 20 potential case scenarios, the bacteria was negated in one, considered in four, and confirmed in 15 cases.

Out of these 19 patients, 13 died, while the remaining six were admitted to different hospitals.

What more are the health officials stating?

As President Claudia Sheinbaum stated about the cluster of cases, health officials “told me about a case yesterday, but let’s say, it’s under control.”

Moreover, Dr. Jorge Gaspar, the hospital’s director, noted that budget cuts “have affected the acquisition of supplies necessary for the institution’s functioning.”

Further, he clarified that his initial message was for an “internal” audience and assured the public that “we are working to solve the situation.”

Health officials detained an anesthesiologist for meningitis in the northwest of the country in 2023; the doctor had a direct connection with 35 patient deaths due to meningitis and infected 79.

The doctor, whose name was withheld, was said to have personally transported his own morphine between two private clinics and dispersed a fungal infection when it penetrated the medication at the first clinic, according to the authorities, US News reported.

The drug may have been exposed to different conditions again, resulting in inadvertent alteration of its properties.

Information about the scale of this depended on how many smaller hospitals or maternity clinics in Mexico do not have their own dispensing pharmacy or may be authorized to store and dispense controlled medications, including opiates, and thus have been long relying on anesthesiologists bringing their own.

The other incident occurred in 2020 when 14 people died in a hospital found to have administered a drug for dialysis patients containing bacteria. The prevailing incidence involved more than 69 patients in the recent outbreak.