WATCH: What could be causing infections at Aberdeen's Children's Hospital?
Professor Hugh Pennington tells Northsound the right precautions are being taken, but it could take some time to source the origins of the small number of "unusual infections".
Last updated 18th May 2021
Finding the source of a "small number of unusual infections" at the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital could be like finding a needle in a haystack.
That's according to a North East bacteriologist.
Professor Hugh Pennington has been telling Northsound that NHS Grampian are taking the right precautions in the situation, but that the bugs could originate from any number of places.
Speaking to Northsound earlier, Professor Pennington said:
"They'll be looking at things like, perhaps the water supply, not the water itself because it's safe but the pipes and the fittings and taps and all that sort of stuff."
"If it is something like washers on taps, then they can be sorted fairly simply, but you need to find out which ones."
"And until they've done that and until they've made the hospital environment safe, it's the simple thing to do to move any unnecessary operations a short walk away."
The Professor also told us that a bug could have even arrived within the facility via a patient.
Saying:
"Some of these bugs may not be coming from the hospital environment, sometimes these bugs can come the patients themselves for example."