EXPECTANT mums in Dorset are being assured everything is done to combat MRSA in maternity units after a two-day-old baby died from the superbug.

Luke Day was just 36 hours old when he died at Ipswich Hospital and is believed to be the youngest-ever victim of the virus.

The 7lb 7oz baby was first thought to have septicaemia, but a post-mortem examination later revealed the condition had been brought after he contracted MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus).

Dr Simon Hill, infection control doctor for Poole Hospital NHS Trust, said no additional precautions were taken in the maternity unit to the rest of the hospital, but added that infection control was seen as extremely important by all staff.

He said there had been incidents where patients had been carrying MRSA, but had not been infected by it.

Dr Hill said: "Overall maternity is considered to be a very low-risk area for finding MRSA because of the patients that go in. They're younger and generally much healthier, so we wouldn't expect any of them to be carrying MRSA.

"We have found the occasional carrier of MRSA but as far as the mother is concerned we've never had problems with regard to infections."

Dr Hill said greater precautions were taken in the neo-natal intensive care unit where babies were kept isolated to reduce the risk of infection.

But he added that, again, while some patients had been found to be carrying the superbug, none had been infected.

Abigail Wareham, press officer for Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Trust, said the precautions taken against MRSA were the same in the maternity unit as they were in the rest of the hospital.

Steps taken to fight the superbug include implementing the National Patient Safety Agency's "clean your hands" campaign, extending the availability of alcohol-based hand rubs around clinical areas.

Ms Wareham added: "Our infection control team follow all the normal standards of cleanliness that you would expect throughout that unit.

"It's a community unit, it's very low-risk babies that come in here and we don't have a particularly high birth rate because all the high-risk babies go to Poole."

First published: March 23