Baby died after superbug hit ward

The hospital carried out a deep clean of the ward

One of four premature babies infected with a bacteria at a London hospital died from the bug, it has been revealed.

The babies were infected at the University College London Hospital neonatal unit with the so-called "gram-negative" bacteria.

The infection killed one of the babies ... while two of the others died of other causes. One baby has survived.

The hospital has not said when the baby died, but the bug hit the ward in July.

The babies were among 15 at the unit found to be carrying several types of bacteria, of whom 13 had bacteria resistant to treatment.

Of those, nine were carrying the bacteria on their skin and four were found to have it in their blood streams.

A hospital spokesman said: "Development of antibiotic resistance is unfortunately a common occurrence for all neonatal units, even more so in units such as ours which care for the most premature babies.

"During July we became concerned because we found particular bacteria on routine surveillance.

"We responded accordingly, including increased cleaning and changing our routine antibiotics to those which we knew would kill these organisms."

A Health Protection Agency spokesman said: "It is not uncommon to see outbreaks of infection in neonatal units caused by a range of bacteria with some level of antibiotic resistance.

"Premature babies are vulnerable to these types of infection, which are opportunistic and tend to affect the vulnerable, very young, elderly or those with a weakened immune system.

"The HPA is continuing to work with UCLH to monitor the situation."

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