New mum died after contracting MRSA (From Salisbury Journal)

New mum died after contracting MRSA

4:31pm Friday 2nd October 2009 in News By Corey Ross

A NURSE who worked at Salisbury District Hospital died there after being admitted with an abscess on her breast just three months after giving birth in India, an inquest heard today.

Wiltshire coroner David Ridley heard that Mini Francis, 28, was admitted to the hospital after contracting superbug MRSA but went into septic shock and died on March 23.

Mrs Francis was originally born in southern India and had recently returned from an extended visit. She had given birth to her son in November last year and returned to Salisbury in February.

The inquest heard she was admitted to hospital on March 10 with a 5cm abscess on her right breast and it was confirmed that the abscess was infected with MRSA.

Giving evidence, pathologist Susan Burroughs said it was a recognised complication after pregnancy for breast feeding women to get abscesses.

The hospital decided not to treat the abscess with surgery but medically with antibiotics. Mrs Francis was discharged from hospital on March 16 but readmitted two days later when her condition began to deteriorate.

Dr Burroughs said there were still unanswered questions about why Mrs Francis deteriorated and did not respond to treatment.

The progression was unusual and she had expected to find evidence of infection elsewhere when she carried out a post mortem, but had not.

She said the most likely explanation was that the infection had moved to an area of deep soft tissue or bone, which would be difficult to find in a post mortem investigation.

Coroner David Ridley recorded death by natural causes due to septic shock caused by the originating infection in the abscess.