MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥� Authorities in Mexico said Tuesday that a total of 17 children have died in central Mexico from suspected after four more deaths were confirmed.
David Kershenobich, the country鈥檚 public health secretary, said 16 of the victims were underweight, premature babies being treated at hospitals; the other victim was 14 years old.
He said that two bacteria, including a multidrug-resistant bug, were suspected in the deaths.
Investigators say the bacterial contamination apparently happened at a plant in the city of Toluca that manufactured the IV nutrition mixture, and that the company had been temporarily shut down and use of the product had been halted.
The first infections were reported starting Nov. 22 and the last was identified on Dec. 3. Around 20 other patients had been sickened by the infection and were being treated for it.
All 13 of the first deaths occurred at three government hospitals and one private one in the State of Mexico, on the outskirts of Mexico City.
Kershenobich said he did not expect any other deaths, but noted authorities had 鈥渄etected other possible outbreaks with similar characteristics in Mexico State, which are under investigation.鈥�
Three more deaths were found to have occurred in the neighboring state of Michoacan and one in the north-central state of Guanajuato. Authorities said the same bacteria, and the same IV bags, were implicated in all the deaths.
Earlier, the federal Public Health Department ordered doctors across the country not to use IV nutrition bags made by the company Productos Hospitalarios S.A de C.V., though the exact source of the infections is still under investigation. Phone calls to numbers listed for the company and emails seeking comment went unanswered.
The outbreak appeared to involve Klebsiella oxytoca, a multidrug-resistant bacteria, and enterobacter cloacae, which caused blood infections in the babies.
It was the latest public blow to Mexico鈥檚 tottering, underfunded healthcare system. Last month, the director of the country鈥檚 flagship national cardiology institute said the hospital didn鈥檛 have money to buy essential supplies, calling the situation 鈥渃ritical.鈥�
Dr. Jorge Gaspar, the hospital鈥檚 director, wrote an internal letter saying that budget cuts 鈥渉ave affected the acquisition of supplies necessary for the institution鈥檚 functioning.鈥� In a subsequent public letter the next day, he clarified that the initial message was intended for an 鈥渋nternal鈥� audience and assured the public that 鈥渨e are working to solve the situation.鈥�
Mexico has been plagued by
In 2023, authorities arrested an anesthesiologist they blamed for an outbreak of meningitis that killed 35 patients and sickened 79.
The doctor, whose name was withheld, apparently carried his own morphine from one private hospital to another, spreading a fungal infection that contaminated the medication at the first clinic, authorities said.
The drug may not have been stored properly. Some smaller hospitals or maternity clinics in Mexico don鈥檛 have their own dispensing pharmacies or are not authorized to handle controlled medications like opiates, and thus long relied on anesthesiologists to bring their own.
In 2020, 14 people died after a hospital run by Mexico鈥檚 state-owned oil company gave a drug to dialysis patients that was contaminated with bacteria. More than 69 patients were sickened in that outbreak.
Former President , who left office on Sept. 30, frequently complained that drug supply companies were charging too much, and so he essentially revamped the whole medical purchasing system, pledging to provide Mexicans healthcare that is 鈥渂etter than in Denmark.鈥�
However, the new system of government-run warehouses has foundered, plagued by chronic shortages of supplies and drugs, while a gargantuan government supply depot L贸pez Obrador set up and called the 鈥渕ega drug store鈥� now sits largely empty.
___
Follow AP鈥檚 coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at
The Associated Press
