Hospital bug kills two premature babies Two premature babies died at a hospital in Staffordshire in July as a result of an infection, it has emerged. A third baby is in isolation following the outbreak at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire. The serratia marcescens bug caused the closure of the unit to new admissions for two weeks in July, but details were only revealed at a hospital meeting on Thursday. The infection affected four other premature babies who have since recovered and have been allowed home. The hospital said parents whose babies had been discharged from the unit had "no need to worry." Julia Bridgewater, the hospital trust's chief executive, said in an interview with local media: "The trust identified an infection in our neonatal intensive care unit in July, serratia marcescens, that can affect babies born extremely premature. Sadly, two babies who died, both born before 28 weeks, had this uncommon infection, and postmortems confirmed serratia marcescens as the cause of death. She said the families of the two babies were informed at the time of the infection. "The trust would like to offer its sincere condolences to those families who have lost a baby," she said. Jeorge Orendi, a consultant microbiologist, said: "As a precaution the trust temporarily closed NICU to new admissions, and the five other babies who were carrying the organism, but were not unwell, were isolated." Orendi said after the outbreak the trust "reviewed infection prevention practice immediately" with the help of the Health Protection Agency. The trust also carried out a deep clean of the unit. Serratia marcescens is an organism that occurs naturally in the gut. To have it on or in the body is not unusual or harmful in healthy people. However, in people who are vulnerable to infection, such as premature babies, the organism can cause complications. The hospital has since been carrying out weekly screenings for the infection. "There have been no new cases of infection or of babies carrying the organism since the initial cases were first identified in July," Orendi said.