17 Children Die of Suspected Medical Contamination in Mexican Hospitals

Earlier this month, 13 children died in four hospitals in central Mexico and their deaths are suspected to be linked to contaminated bags of intravenous nutrition. These bags use IVs to administer nutrients into a patient’s body through their bloodstream. Mexican authorities said that the children had been exposed to the multidrug-resistant bacteria Klebsiella oxytoca and enterobacter cloacae, which can cause blood infections. In the week since, the death toll has risen to 17, which the majority of victims being underweight or premature babies, and one victim being 14. The hospitals that were affected were three public medical centers and one private clinic, ABC News reported.

“This outbreak is preliminarily linked to intravenous parenteral nutrition solutions or to the supplies used for their application that could be contaminated,” said Mexico’s Health Secretariat in a statement.

Patients first started experiencing symptoms on November 22, with the most recent case being identified on December 3. A dangerous bacteria, klebsiella oxytoca can cause pneumonia, urinary tract infection, soft tissue infection, blood poisoning, and septic shock. In addition to the 17 victims, 20 additional patients were infected but are recovering and receiving treatment. Three deaths have also been reported in the nearby states of Michoacán and Guanajuato, with investigators crediting the same bacteria and IV bags as the source. According to investigators, the outbreak was traced to a manufacturing error at the plant in Toluca, CDMX where the nutrition mixture is made by Productos Hospitalarios. The company has been shut down and the manufacturing stopped until a full investigation can be conducted.

The infections are a symptom of a longer, bigger problems that Mexico’s healthcare system is facing. In the past few months, hospitals have been attacked by budget cuts and underfunding that have impacted their abilities to acquire the necessary supplies to treat patients. There simply is no money to provide adequate care, which has also affected how well doctors are able to treat patients suffering from the infection. In the meantime, the health department has issued a national epidemiological alert and forbidden hospitals from using Productos Hospitalarios’s nutrition mixture and IV bags.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has informed the public that her administration’s priority is to take care of the families and assist in the investigation, which is currently ongoing.