LUKE DAY weighed a healthy 7lb 7oz. Neither his mother nor hospital staff had any cause for concern about his health — yet 36 hours after he was born, Luke was dead: the youngest known victim of MRSA, the hospital superbug.

A post-mortem examination at Great Ormond Street Child- ren’s Hospital revealed that Luke died from septicaemia caused by MRSA which is thought to have entered his bloodstream through his umbilical cord. The microbiologist who led the hospital’s investigation into his death told The Times that he was very concerned that he had not been able to establish how Luke had acquired the bug or why it had killed him so quickly.

No trace of it was found in his family, in the hospital or in the staff who treated him. The hospital has denied accusations by Luke’s parents of a cover-up after MRSA initially failed to appear on their son’s death certificate.

MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is one of a group of bacteria commonly found on the skin. It is difficult to treat because it is resistant to commonly used antibiotics. Luke showed no sign of it when he was born naturally in Ipswich Hospital on February 2. His mother Glynis, 17, wept as she recalled how her joy at giving birth had turned to despair.

“Luke seemed fine. His temperature did go down but he went under a heater for a bit and he was fine again. There was no indication that he was ill at all.”

Shortly before 7 o’clock on the evening of February 3 a nurse came to check on her, Ms Day said.

“She then went to walk out and glanced in the cot. I wasn’t taking much notice because people were always coming in and out. It was when she grabbed him and ran outside and didn’t come back for a little while that I suddenly clicked something might be wrong.

“I went out to find him and they said they were resuscitating him. I just broke down. I couldn’t believe it. I want something done about it, even though it’s not going to bring him back.”

When the family went to register Luke’s birth and death they found that the death certificate made no mention of MRSA as the cause of death. His father, Kevin Fenton, 24, refused to sign it until the form had been changed.

Glynis’s mother Kathy Day, 55, has quit her job as a support worker for day patients at the hospital because she feels she can longer support the NHS.

“The whole family feel the whole truth about Luke’s death should be known. A baby has died from MRSA in an NHS hospital. People need to know. We do not want other families to go through the pain we have suffered over the last few weeks.”

“He was so beautiful when he was born and I was so happy that I had a little grandson at last. My daughter had got everything ready: a cot, a pram and clothes for a baby boy. Friends and family had donated toys and teddy bears. He was all ready to move into Glynis’s room at the family home. There was no warning at all.”

He even had a natural playmate ready after his mother’s twin sister gave birth to a daughter two months earlier.

Dr Philip Jones, a consultant microbiologist who led the infection control team investigating Luke’s death, said: “I don’t know how he acquired MRSA, I wish I did; and we can’t explain why he died so quickly; I wish we could.”

An extensive examination of the rooms where Luke was born and died revealed no traces of the bug. There was no sign of it in any of Luke’s family or the more than 60 members of hospital staff who were swabbed in the investigation.

“There was no indication that he was unwell. We just can’t understand it. This is a very unusual, exceptional event. We are very concerned both for Luke’s family and because, despite our best efforts, we have not been able to find the answers.” Chris Dooley, the acting chief executive of the hospital trust, said the death had “deeply affected all of the staff who cared for Luke and his family”.

But he was eager to reassure prospective parents that giving birth at the hospital was safe. “We are confident that the maternity unit at Ipswich Hospital does not present a risk,” he said.

Concerns over hospital cleanliness are a target of the Conservative election campaign. Luke’s death can serve only to make it more poignant.

Michael Howard, the Conservative leader whose mother-in-law died from MRSA, sent his “deepest sympathies” to Luke’s family. “I know what it is like to have a close family member who has been the victim of MRSA and I can imagine the grief that the family are experiencing,” he said.

Figures this month suggested that MRSA infections had fallen to the lowest level since records began.

LETHAL BUG

The number of MRSA-related deaths in England and Wales doubled in the four years to 2003

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