FOUND IN WET AREAS
STENOTROPHOMONAS maltophilia is an uncommon bacterial infection found mostly in wet environments.
In hospitals, it can be found in fluids such as irrigation solutions – liquids used to clean a wound or wash out a body cavity such as an ear.
It could be found in intravenous fluids including drips used for rehydrating a patient after diarrhoea or vomiting.
The infection may cause bloodstream infections, respiratory infections, urinary infections and surgical-site infections.
Those with significantly impaired immune defences are most at risk and infections in previously healthy patients are unusual.
It does not readily spread between patients. NOV 2018: A woman of 73 contracts cryptococcus within Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, an infection which is linked to pigeon droppings. She dies in January. A 10-year-old boy, being treated in the QEUH because the children’s hospital cancer wards are closed due to a water infection, contracts cryptococcus. He dies later in the month. DEC 21, 2018: Government ministers are told a post-mortem examination showed cryptococcus bacteria were a factor in the youngster’s death. Filters are installed in the hospital to deal with the infection. NHSGGC announces two people have cryptococcus. The health board finally admits two infected patients have died. The Daily Record reveals a family complained to the Scottish Government nine months before about the pigeon infestation at the QEUH. Health Secretary Jeane Freeman orders a review of the design of the hospital to make sure it is “fit for purpose” – less than four years after it opened. The Health and Safety Executive says it has begun a probe into the two pigeon-related deaths. The Daily Record tells how a chair covered in pigeon droppings was spotted in a public car park at the QEUH three months before and was still there despite the deaths. NHSGGC announces a second infection at the QEUH. Two patients test positive for mucor fungus. A whistleblower says QUEH staff were told a year before not to feed its pigeons. The Procurator Fiscal confirms the Scottish Fatalities Investigation Unit is examining the two deaths. The health board says two premature babies have died at the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital in Glasgow. A third baby is in a stable condition. The Record learns a patient died after contracting an infection, this time at a hospital in Paisley. Two others are also infected with stenotrophomonas maltophilia.