Baby Formula Recall: 2nd Child Dies Over Bacterial Infection

The casualties of the infant milk that prompted baby formula recall in the United States rose to two on Monday, as another baby died due to Cronobacter sakazakii infection.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not specify the exact date and the name of the infant who recently died due to the baby formula, but the administration highlighted that Cronobacter infection "may have contributed to the cause of death" of the baby.

Authorities mentioned that the infant fell ill and was hospitalized. However, the child did not survive following the illness.

In total, there are five infants who fell ill and were hospitalized after consuming the baby formulas, two of these infants were the fatalities, per NBC Chicago.

The FDA underscored that all the infants who were hospitalized, including the ones who died, were exposed to the powdered infant formulas that were manufactured from Abbott Nutrition's plant in Sturgis, Michigan.

According to reports, four cases of Cronobacter and one case of Salmonella were found among hospitalized infants.

The illnesses reportedly occurred between September 16 last year and January 4 this year. All the infants that have fallen ill after their exposure to the baby formulas were from Ohio, Minnesota, and Texas.

Baby Formula Recall: Additional Infant Formula Subjected to Recall

Following the death of the second child due to contaminated baby formulas, a new FDA advisory on Monday said that Abbott Nutrition added the milk Similac PM 60/40 with lot code of 27032K80027032K80 on the can and 27032K800 on the case, for recall.

It can be recalled that last week Abbott Nutrition issued baby formula recalls on Similac, Alimentum, and EleCare. The baby formulas that were subjected for recall have 22 through 37 as the first two digits of their code; the code of the container contains K8, SH, or Z2; and the expirations dates on the containers are 4-1-2022 or later.

The FDA noted that the baby formulas subjected for recalls were produced in their facility in Michigan, adding that the products from the said facility can be found across the country and some were exported to foreign lands.

The said baby formulas were contaminated with Cronobacter sakazakii and Salmonella.

Cronobacter bacteria can cause severe, life-threatening infections or sepsis and meningitis.

Cronobacter skazakii infections were reportedly rare, but they possess "high risk" for infants.

Meanwhile, Salmonella is a group of bacteria known to cause gastrointestinal illness and fever called salmonellosis.

Both infections from the said families of bacteria can also cause symptoms, including irritability, jaundice, temperature changes, lethargy, and grunting breaths.

Baby Formula Recall: Concerns of Infant Milk Shortage Surface

In the light of the baby formula recalls across the United States, the FDA stressed that they are aware of the concerns of the availability of certain supplies of infant formula.

The agency then assured that they are looking into the effects of the baby formula recall.

"The FDA is working with Abbott Nutrition to assess the impacts of the recall and understand the production capacity at other Abbott facilities that produce some of the impacted brands," the FDA pointed out.

FDA added that they are also working with Abbott regarding the resumption of production in Sturgis, Michigan, the place where the contaminated brands of infant milk originated prompting a baby formula recall.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

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