Death toll from contaminated infant IV feeding bags in Mexico rises to 17

MEXICO CITY — Authorities in Mexico said Tuesday that a total of 17 children have died in central Mexico from suspected contamination of IV feeding bags after four more deaths were confirmed.

David Kershenobich, the country's 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 ''detected other possible outbreaks with similar characteristics in Mexico State, which are under investigation.''

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's tottering, underfunded healthcare system. Last month, the director of the country's flagship national cardiology institute said the hospital didn't have money to buy essential supplies, calling the situation ''critical.''

Dr. Jorge Gaspar, the hospital's director, wrote an internal letter saying that budget cuts ''have affected the acquisition of supplies necessary for the institution's functioning.'' In a subsequent public letter the next day, he clarified that the initial message was intended for an ''internal'' audience and assured the public that ''we are working to solve the situation.''

Mexico has been plagued by contaminated medical supply scandals for years.

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't 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's 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 Andrés Manuel López Obrador, 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 ''better than in Denmark.''

However, the new system of government-run warehouses has foundered, plagued by chronic shortages of supplies and drugs, while a gargantuan government supply depot López Obrador set up and called the ''mega drug store'' now sits largely empty.