An outbreak of an antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria has been discovered at a Tel Aviv hospital nursery, Yediot Ahronot reported Monday.
Seventeen newborn babies being cared for in a nursery designated for premature births at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv have been infected with the vancomycin-resistant enterococci bacteria.
The bacteria, which has been found in the children’s intestines, was first discovered after a baby was transferred from Ichilov to Schneider Hospital in Petah Tikva for surgery.
After being notified by the Schneider staff of the infection, doctors at Ichilov examined newborns from the nursery where the infected baby had been prior to her transfer to Schneider.
While VRE bacterial infections are not aggressive, they can be potentially dangerous, particularly to small children or people with pre-existing conditions. VRE infections are treatable with a limited range of antibiotics, due to the bacteria’s resistance to most common antibiotics.