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Cholera bacteria detected in Maternity Hospital in Athens

Cholera bacteria has been detected in one of the biggest public maternity hospitals in downtown Athens. First samples from stagnated water in the basement of the hospital that have been examined in the hospital laboratory have shown “potentially enteropathogenic microorganisms.”

The Maternity Hospital “Elena Venizelos” in downtown Athens sealed one of its food storage rooms after cholera bacteria was detected in stagnated water in the basement. While the first lab analysis detected the bacteria beginning of the month, further examination is necessary to specify whether the strain belongs to the toxic class that can cause the cholera disease.

The case became public after a denouncement by the Union of Public Hospital Workers (POEDIN) on Wednesday.

Expressing concern about the health of newborns, pregnant women, new mother and hospital personnel, POEDIN said that it has been urging the hospital management to restore the problem of leaking and stagnating water in the basement, however without success so far.

In a statement the Hospital Management said hours after the POEDIN announcement that “on 5. October 2017 health inspectors collected samples of the stagnated water in the dry food storage and sent them to the microbiology laboratory of the hospital.”

The samples were collected from the basement of Building A, the water was leaked into the storage room from the floor of an adjacent space of the electricity substation, the hospital statement said.

Although the hospital laboratory was not competent on water control, results of 13. October showed “potentially enteropathogenic miscroorganisms.”

The dry food storage was sealed, further samples were sent to Greece’s Central Public Health Laboratory for full cultivation. The results are expected on Friday, October 20th 2017, the hospital statement said.

The Hellenic Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KEELPNO) issued a statement on October 19th saying that “according to scientific data, the presence of enteropathogenic vibrio (such as the Vibrio Cholerae) is not documented in the laboratory test. Moreover, no case of disease has been reported to KEELPNO.”

Meanwhile, union POEDIN that leads a fierce struggle for improvement of  public health conditions in the country’s public hospitals sent pictures to the media from the place where the water samples were collected.

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Is this a dry food storage in a public hospital? Gross.

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More pictures in iatropedia.gr and protothema.gr

The Cholera bacterium‘s natural habitat is brackish or saltwater.

Full hospital statement in English here.

PS Debt-ridden Greece does not have money to fix the public hospitals. The country’s defense is much more important.$2.4billion can be spent on F-16 but …ops! that’s from another pot of the Greek budget.

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One comment

  1. This building should be burned down. Woman are better of giving birth on the street.