State sending training teams to centres amid fatal outbreaks

TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey health officials said Monday they are sending infection-control teams to four long-term pediatric centres and a hospital to assist with training amid viral and bacterial outbreaks that have left a combined 10 people dead.

The teams will assess infection prevention practices and deploy beginning in November, according to Health Commissioner Dr. Shereef Elnahal.

The response comes amid a fatal adenovirus outbreak at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation that left 9 people dead, most under age 18. In addition, a premature baby died following the discovery of a bacterial infection at Newark’s University Hospital this month, state health officials have said.

“Facility outbreaks are not always preventable, but in response to what we have seen in Wanaque, we are taking aggressive steps to minimize the chance they occur among the most vulnerable patients in New Jersey,” Elnahal said in a statement.

Those affected at the Wanaque centre range in age from toddlers to young adults.

Adenovirus usually poses little risk for healthy people and typically causes mild cold or flu symptoms. Some strains also cause diarrhea and pinkeye.

The strain found in the rehab centre outbreak — type 7 — is among the more potent types and sometimes causes more serious respiratory illness, especially among those with weak immune systems.

The first symptoms showed up Sept. 26, and the state was notified of an outbreak Oct. 9, officials said.

The 227-bed, for-profit facility has a pediatric centre and also cares for elderly residents.

No new residents are being admitted for the duration of the outbreak, which won’t be declared over until the centre can go four weeks without any new cases.

At the hospital, the state health department earlier said it found four Acinetobacter baumannii cases since Oct. 1. The baby had the bacterium and was transferred to another facility, where it died.

The department said the exact cause of death is under investigation. There were compounding medical conditions.

The bacterium can cause pneumonia or serious blood or wound infections.

Those cases are not related to the virus at the Wanaque centre, the Health Department said.

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The story has been updated to show the commissioner’s first name is Shereef, not Shereer, and the number of deaths at Wanaque is 9, not 10.