Hong Kong toddler infected by bacteria after contaminated blood transfusion
A two-year-old girl was made ill by a transfusion of contaminated blood at the Prince of Wales Hospital. The case echoes an earlier case of contaminated blood in a transfusion at Tuen Mun Hospital after which a man aged 52 died.
A two-year-old girl was made ill by a transfusion of contaminated blood at the Prince of Wales Hospital.
The case echoes an earlier case of contaminated blood in a transfusion at Tuen Mun Hospital after which a man aged 52 died.
The girl's reaction to the transfusion manifested in symptoms including fever, low blood pressure, an elevated heartbeat and skin rashes on August 15 when she received a resection procedure for a pancreatic tumour at the hospital, a spokesman for the Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service said.
The girl was treated with a steroid, antibiotics and drugs to raise her blood pressure and her symptoms gradually subsided.
She was asymptomatic last night and in stable condition.
A lab test isolated the common bacteria Pseudomonas fluorescens in her blood and in the bag of blood used for the transfusion.
It was found that the blood had been stored at the hospital blood bank since July 26 before being transported to the operating theatre on the day of the transfusion.