9 Patients in Alabama Hospitals Die After Being Treated with Bacteria Infected IV Feeding Bags

The serratia marcescens bacteria is one of the oldest identified around and has existed almost everywhere but when the bacteria gets into a human with an IV and perhaps the body resistance to fight back is down, well sadly we have deaths such as what occurred here in Alabama as you can read that all were critically ill before receiving the bacteria infected IV.

The product was made by one company so at least the root of the problem has been identified and no more product in in the loop hopefully.  The supplement is administered into a central line intravenously, going directly into the patients’ blood stream. Patients are monitored carefully for symptoms of septic shock.  There were a total of 6 hospitals in the state affected.  BD 

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Nine Alabama hospital patients who were treated with intravenous feeding bags contaminated with bacteria have died, and the maker has pulled the product off the market, state health officials said Tuesday.

Ten others who got the nutrient treatments that are delivered directly from the plastic bags into the bloodstream through IV tubes also were sickened by the outbreak of serratia marcescens bacteria, health officials said.

All the patients were critically ill before receiving the IVs, and officials have not definitively tied the deaths to the outbreak at six hospitals, State Health Officer Donald Williamson said.