One of two newborns who tested positive for a potentially deadly bacterium at Prince George's Hospital Center's neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) this week is struggling with symptoms, hospital officials said Friday.
The hospital closed NICU Wednesday after the bacterium pseudomonas was discovered for the second time in three months.
Five babies were transferred to other hospitals with NICUs, hospital officials said. The newborns were moved out of the NICU because officials had not found the source of the bacterium. The hospital has ruled out the water supply as the source.
The NICU had been reopened for slightly less than a month following a similar issue. It first closed Aug. 10 after three other babies tested positive for the bacterium. Nine infants were moved out of the NICU to Children's National Medical System in Washington, D.C.
The hospital said in early October that they had completed the work necessary to ensure the NICU was safe to reopen.
Since the NICU reopened, officials haven't found any evidence of the bacterium in the water supply.
In the first incident, pseudomonas was found in six sinks in the hospital, including four in the NICU, officials said. Those sinks were removed and treated.
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Pseudomonas bacteria can be transmitted through water, hospital officials have said.
Pseudomonas infections can lead to ear infections, skin rashes and mild illnesses in healthy people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But the infections can cause severe illness or death in people with weakened immune systems, the CDC said. About 400 deaths per year are attributed to drug-resistant pseudomonas infections, the CDC said in a 2013 report.
