3rd Infant Affected With Rare Illness that Can be Caused by Tainted Baby Powder Recovers
A third infant that was infected with a rare type of bacteria associated with a contaminated powdered infant formula has fully recovered, health officials said on Wednesday.
Like the Missouri child who died 10 days old after being infected with Cronobacter sakazakii, the Oklahoma baby had been affected by the same bacteria. Avery Cornett from Missouri was fed Enfamil Newborn powdered infant formula produced by Illinois-based Mead Johnson.
However health officials said that the Oklahoma child had not consumed the same formula as baby Cornett, and Mead Johnson said, after testing the formula, that no bacteria was found in their product.
"These new results reaffirm the testing conducted before the batch was made available to retailers and consumers. Based on both sets of tests, Mead Johnson can say with confidence that Enfamil Premium Newborn formula, like every infant formula the company produces, is safe," the company said in a statement.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control are still testing the powdered formula with distilled water that is used to prepare it, and to determine the origin of the Cronobacter bacteria.
FDA officials have already visited an Enfamil baby formula factory run by Mead Johnson as part of a greater investigation into the cause three known bacterial infections that occurred in roughly the same region of the country.
Irritability, lethargy, fever, vomiting and seizures are associated with the rare infection, and it can be treated with antibiotics. However the bacterial infection is still considered extremely dangerous for babies less than a month old and premature babies. It is estimated that 40 percent of illnesses from bacteria result in death.
The bacteria originates naturally in the environment in plants such as wheat and rice, and have previously also been traced to dried milk and powdered formulas. Currently there are no adequate methods to completely remove all the bacteria that could contaminate the formula before or during production.
After public suspicion landed on Enfamil, retailers like Wal-Mart, Walgreen’s. Kroger and Safeway have pulled the powdered infant formula from their shelves.