THERE are undoubtedly responsibilities for the outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease in the neonatal unit of a private Nicosia hospital, the Health Minister said yesterday.
“Instructions have been issued to everyone to assist both with their scientific expertise and in the accuracy of collecting and compiling the evidence so that this case moves forward,” said Christos Patsallides.
The minister was speaking to journalists following a news conference on mobile defibrillators.
He said he had assured the parents of the newborns who had contracted the rare type of pneumonia that the ministry would go to the North Pole for expert advice if necessary.
Patsallides met with the parents at length on Wednesday afternoon and said that he had committed to giving them all the support they wanted.
“From the word go, particularly regarding the newborns’ care, carte blanche was given regarding their treatment, without question of bureaucracy and unnecessary thought,” he said.
The Health Minister said the investigation had to be co-ordinated, but that everyone agreed that in light of a criminal investigation all evidence had to be passed on to police.
The authorities launched an official investigation into the outbreak on Wednesday afternoon following the death of a third child.
State Laboratory head Stella Michaelidou said so far test results had confirmed elevated levels of the Legionella bacteria in the neonatal unit’s humidifier and the maternity ward’s water supply.
“The main problem was found in the humidifier which had multiplied the problem by acting as a transporter of the bacteria via air droplets and unfortunately into the children’s lungs,” she said.
Michaelidou said water samples taken from taps supplying the maternity ward and neonatal unit had also tested posted positive for Legionella, indicating the water used in the humidifier was already infected.
Samples taken from cold water and hot water tested positive, although the highest level of Legionella was found in the hot water.
However, the Water Board was not at fault, as samples taken from the main supply had come back clear, she stressed.
“There were absolutely no traces of Legionella,” she said.
Her statement will serve to vindicate the Nicosia Water Board. Immediately after the outbreak, statements made by a doctor at the Hippocration hospital insinuated that Nicosia’s water supply was at fault. The Water Board defended the capital’s water saying it had increased analyses for bacteria since it had introduced water cuts last year and that no problem had ever been found.
Samples of water were taken from the Engomi area water deposit from where the private hospital is supplied, at the point of entry of the main water supply to the private hospital and at the point of entry of the main water supply to the state lab. All had come back clear, she said.
Michaelidou said the investigations would continue and that the results of additional samples were still pending.
“All the results will be handed over to police,” she said.
These results include samples taken from the hospital’s engine-room, she added.
Meanwhile the parents of the children afflicted with the potentially life threatening disease met with Attorney-general Petros Clerides to discuss the legal aspect of the case. No comments were made by the parents on the issue.
All the children were born at the Hippocration hospital between December 17 and 27 and had been discharged healthy. All developed symptoms a few days later and were rushed to Makarios Hospital for treatment. The disease can only be contracted from a contaminated water system and is fatal in approximately five to 15 per cent of cases.
Three of the children have already died, two remain in intensive care and six others are almost fully recovered.
SIX out of eight newborn babies receiving treatment at Nicosia’s Makarios Hospital could be discharged as early as today.
Makarios Hospital Paediatric Head Dr Andreas Hadjidemetriou said the infants’ treatment had come to its conclusion and that that if they were clinically stable today they would be released from hospital.
Two more infants are still in the Intensive Care Unit.
One has been removed from the incubator and ventilator and placed into a cot. Hadjidemetriou said it was continuing to be treated and that its condition was stable.
The second child was also stable, although it remained on a ventilator for the time being, he said.
