Ten babies have died at Tembisa Hospital, in Ekurhuleni, after pneumonia and meningitis-causing outbreak hit the hospital.
In a statement from the Gauteng Health Department on Monday morning, 17 cases of Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) were reported during the period between 01 November to 31 December 2019.
It was suspected that the organism responsible for this outbreak was Klebsiella pneumonia, which are bacteria that normally live in one’s intestines and faeces.
The department said several measures have been taken to prevent further infections in the neonatal unit, including the implementation of a quality improvement plan and the deployment of additional nurses.
CRE are a family of germs that are difficult to treat because they have high levels of resistance to antibiotics. They can cause deadly infections in your bloodstream, lungs and urinary tract, including pneumonia and meningitis.