All babies transferred to other units from two hospitals in Northern Ireland where four infants died are to be screened for the killer infection, public health authorities said.
Neo-natal rooms across the province are to be checked for babies moved during the last two months.
All taps and connected pipework in the neo-natal room at Belfast’s Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital are to be removed as experts try to eradicate all traces of the pseudomonas bacteria.
The outbreaks at the Royal and at Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry have been linked to the taps.
Three newborns died in the Royal this month and one late last year in Altnagelvin.
Public Health Agency (PHA) assistant director Dr Lorraine Doherty said: “All the babies transferred from Altnagelvin or the Royal since November 14, we are asking for them to be screened.
“We believe it probably affects most of the neo-natal units across Northern Ireland.”
Health chiefs said infants who had since been discharged from hospital did not need to be screened because the bacterium usually affects those who are ill and vulnerable.
One baby continues to be treated at the Royal for pneumonia amid as yet unconfirmed fears it has also contracted the potentially deadly infection.
Two infants who had no signs of the bacterium when they were sent from the Royal to Antrim and Craigavon Area hospitals have now been found to be carrying it on their skin.
A total of three babies died in the Royal’s neo-natal unit and one baby recovered but later died from an unrelated cause, the PHA said.
An outbreak of a different strain of pseudomonas in Londonderry’s Altnagelvin Hospital last month, which claimed the life of one baby, was also linked to the water system in its neo-natal facilities. Chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride wrote to other trusts alerting them to the danger after the death.
Health Minister Edwin Poots said yesterday that special ultra-violet technology may be installed in the province’s hospitals in a bid to prevent further outbreaks.
Pseudomonas can cause infections in the chest, blood and urinary tract.
The neo-natal unit at the Royal, which was emptied in the wake of the outbreak, has since undergone a deep clean.
Dr Doherty added that the situation across Northern Ireland was being reviewed by health estate managers to consider whether taps or other equipment needed to be removed.
The babies in Antrim and Craigavon were transferred on Friday evening as the Royal was being cleaned. The baby in Craigavon has been discharged and the baby in Antrim is in isolation.
The PHA was asked why the Royal’s taps were not checked after the death in Altnagelvin, despite the fact that a baby was transferred to the Royal from the Londonderry hospital.
Dr Doherty said: “The baby does not pose a risk to the taps in the Royal, there was no evidence of pseudomonas contamination of the taps in the Royal, there was no evidence of a wider issue. If we determined that there was a wider issue with taps of course we would look at taps.”
There were three cases of pseudomonas in the outbreak at Altnagelvin in December last year, resulting in the death of one baby.
Of the other two babies, one recovered, while the second was transferred to the Royal.
Mr Poots said yesterday that of three other babies (apart from the one with pneumonia) believed to have contracted the infection at the Royal, two have recovered and continue to receive neo-natal care, while the third initially recovered but subsequently died of unrelated causes.
A health department spokesman said last night that further tests for pseudomonas had not shown any new cases of infection in the outbreak at the Royal.
He said the number of babies who have the pseudomonas bacteria on their skin associated with the Royal outbreak was now eight.
None of those infants has contracted the infection, he added.