Recent KZN baby deaths not due to Klebsiella: Dept

The KwaZulu-Natal health Department says testsresults have confirmed that the recent death of two babies at Prince Mshiyeni Hospital at Umlazi, south of Durban was not due to an outbreak of Klebsiella.

Spokesperson Leon Mbangwa says although the two infants died of natural infections that might be related to Klebsiella, an outbreak is only declared when the same strain of klebsiella is identified in two or more babies.

“We need to confirm that we certainly do not have Klebsiella outbreak in the Prince Mshiyeni Hospital, the two babies that died from two different type of infection, these babies have been in hospital for a very long period under antibiotics and they were born prematurely, and they were extremely underweight all of them.”

He says two other infants who also fell ill at the same time are out of danger.