Epidemiological Investigation Underway on Infant Deaths at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital NICU [Dec. 18, 2017]

Person in charge: Moon Sang-Joon (Division of Public Health Emergency Management, 043-719-7192)


◇ KCDC and the city of Seoul are currently reviewing medical records and testing samples from the NICU of Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital
◇ Infants discharged or transferred to different hospitals are being monitored
◇ Blood tests showed signs of bacterial infection in three of the deceased


□ Following the deaths of four infants at the NICU of Ewha Womans Mokdong Hospital on December 16th, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC, Director Jeong Eun-Kyeong) dispatched a rapid response team to the site on December 17th. The team is currently conducting an epidemiological investigation in collaboration with the city of Seoul.

   * The team includes two division directors from the KCDC and three epidemic investigation officers

 ○ KCDC has established an operations center on site and is currently reviewing the medical records of all 16 infants who were in the NICU, as well as monitoring the conditions of all 12 infants who were either discharged or transferred.

   * Eight transferred, four discharged

 ○ No particular events have been identified in the other 12. KCDC will continue to monitor them for the time being.

 ○ Tests showed signs of bacterial infection in three of the deceased. The specific test results will be available after December 20th. As of now, KCDC has not ruled out any possible causes of death.