The Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) in Bacolod City is temporarily limiting admissions of mother and child cases following a Candida auris outbreak in its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
The measure, announced Monday, Dec. 22, was implemented to contain the rare fungal pathogen and protect the hospital’s most vulnerable premature patients.
The move aims to protect infants and mothers while the hospital strengthens Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) measures and prioritizes life-saving tertiary care cases, the CLMMRH announced.
Dr. Joan Cerrada, CLMMRH chief, confirmed there is an outbreak in the NICU involving three patients infected with Candida auris, a fungal pathogen that typically affects individuals with severely compromised immune systems.
The three premature babies have been at CLMMRH for 50 days and must be isolated from other infants, which necessitates the current limit on patient admissions, Cerrada explained.
“We need to isolate them so we can protect all the other babies admitted in the NICU who are also premature,” she said.
The blood culture result for the first Candida auris case was released on Nov. 26, while the most recent was recorded on Dec. 14. No new cases have been detected since then.
The patients—two females and one male—were infected during their 46th and 48th days of life.
“They are all what we call ‘grammers’, they did not even reach one kilogram and they have lung diseases. They are premature, so their immune systems are not that strong,” said Dr. Sandra Montelibano, the physician caring for the three infants.
Over the past three days, the babies have shown improvement and are now tolerating small feedings, Montelibano added.
Candida auris is a type of yeast (fungus) that can cause severe infections of the bloodstream and internal organs.
It can spread through person-to-person contact or through contaminated objects and equipment, Cerrada noted.
The fungal infections sometimes set in when a patient is on antibiotics for an extended period, she said.
CLMMRH currently has 17 patients in the NICU, which has a maximum capacity of 27.
Except for one full-term baby, all infants currently in the NICU are premature and have compromised immune systems, Cerrada said.
The hospital will reopen the NICU to more admissions once the Candida auris situation is fully contained, Cerrada stated.*