ST JAMES'S Hospital, Dublin, assured the public yesterday there was no danger to patients in its new £1.5 million bone marrow transplant unit where bacteria were found in the water supply.
The hospital stressed that pseudomonas (micro organisms common in decaying organic matter) discovered were not of the dangerous strain (aeruginosa) but were of the low grade types that could be picked up in many places, such as in any sink (fluoresens and stutzeri).
Prof Sean McCann, head of the bone marrow section, said the pseudomonas were discovered in March and steps were taken to eliminate them. There was no evidence that anyone at the hospital was affected by the bacteria and he was very disappointed at a newspaper report which seemed to confuse the different types of pseudomonas.
He had known before the unit opened that the low grade pseudomonas were there. He knew they were not serious and when donors had become available they had gone ahead with two bone marrow transplants. Both of these were successful and the patients were making excellent progress.
Prof McCann said he had to decide whether to cancel an operation because of the low grade pseudomonas or go ahead with the transplant. "There has been no evidence of any infection and we went ahead."
He was concerned that families of the patients would be worried about the newspaper report and he wanted to assure people that there was nothing to fear. "If we thought we had a major problem we would not go ahead with transplants. It is inconvenient but all appropriate action is being taken.
He said they were taking stringent precautions, sterilising water and engineers were checking the pipes. "We want people to go into treatment with the least amount of anxiety. This sort of reporting does not help anyone.
Prof Conor Keane said in any water distribution system there were bound to be leaks and bacteria coming into it. There would he algae on the side of the pipes and that was the basis of the problem. Eliminating this was a slow process.
The Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, officially opened the transplant unit yesterday. He said since 1984, over 200 patients had received bone marrow transplants at the hospital. The unit would provide "state of the art" facilities for patients and would allow doctors to double the number of transplants carried out each year.