St Mary's Hospital in the city centre has closed the three neo-natal wards on the unit to new admissions following the outbreak.
It is understood MRSA was found on the skin of one baby several weeks ago.
The six other cases were picked up during routine skin screening tests on Thursday.
The unit cares for the sickest and most premature babies in Greater Manchester.
Doctors stress none of the babies have contracted the more serious MRSA blood infection and none are suffering any ill-effects as a result of the bacteria being found on their skin.
Staff say they have tried to isolate the affected babies in each of the three wards which are intensive care, high dependency and the special care baby unit. There are currently 27 babies on the unit.
Among those found to be carrying the bug is nine-week-old Jaylen Redshaw who was born 15 weeks early weighing just one pound eleven ounces.
Today his parents, from Gorton, said they were desperately worried about their child and concerned the hospital had not informed parents soon enough.
They said they were also alarmed babies had continued to be transferred from one ward to another.
Isolation
Jaylen's mum Jacqui Millward, 22, who is a care assistant in an elderly residential home, said: "They told us the incubator was isolation enough, but obviously this is not the case otherwise it wouldn't have spread, would it?
"It wasn't until more than six hours after the bug was diagnosed that they told us. I had taken my two-year-old daughter Kenzie on the ward earlier in the day and if other people have done the same it has probably now been spread into the community.
"If people had been told earlier then obviously we would all have been able to take further precautions.
"We have now been told that we will all have to be swabbed for MRSA and cannot hold our child until the results are back.
"The nurses have told us Jaylen is not in immediate danger, but he was born 15 weeks prematurely so he is obviously very vulnerable.
"They told us the same nurse would be treating him and no-one else, but we later found out the same person was looking after another baby.
"There is also broken skin on his foot and on his toe, but until I raised it as an issue they had left the wounds open - that is how the condition gets into the blood.
"We are so worried. We have to leave our son's life in their care. Every time the phone rings I think it is the hospital ringing to say it has got into his blood.
"If us speaking out about this prompts further precautions and helps protect another child, then it has been worth it."
Hospital bosses said that premature and sick babies are now being sent to other neo-natal units a Wythenshawe, Bolton and Salford on a case by case basis.
A spokeswoman for St Mary's said: "We can confirm we have temporarily restricted new admissions to the Neonatal Unit. This is due to a number of babies on the neonatal unit testing positive for MRSA.
"We would like to stress however that none of these babies are currently infected; they have been identified through our weekly screening programme to be carrying the MRSA bacteria.
"The infection control team is monitoring the situation very closely and, alongside our staff on the unit, have taken steps to reduce the risks to our other babies."
Last winter Salford Royal's baby unit had to be closed after two babies contracted a rare fungal infection.
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Whilst I empathise with the parents and understand that they must be frantic with worry, may I suggest that they do some research into MRSA, as I feel that they may have been frightened by the media hyping of this bacterium. I suggest that they do a quick Gogle search which may allay their fears somewhat:- "MRSA (sometimes referred to as the superbug) stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (SA). SA is a bacterium from the Staphylococcus aureus family.
About one in three of us carries SA on the surface of our skin, or in our nose, without developing an infection. This is known as being colonised by the bacteria. However, if SA bacteria get into the body through a break in the skin they can cause infections such as boils, abscesses or impetigo. If they get into the bloodstream they can cause more serious infections."
In no way am I suggesting that they shouldn't be concerned, but think that they, and the general public, should have a little more information.
My baby girl was a premature baby in scbu, She was there for 31 days and very suddenly she died after doing soo well. Apparently she died of nec (necrotising entercolitis) she became ill an like the parents of jaylen, i too was not informed straight away, in fact if i had'nt rang the unit god only knows when they were going to inform me.
On the night she died, i went out for coffee, which i would never have done if i had known the true extent of her illness. A surgeon was called at 7.30pm,( i went for coffee at 8.30pm,) they did'nt tell me a surgeon had been called for, and i dont know why he was because my daughter was not operated on or was ever going to be because her bowel was ischaemic and non viable from what i've been told since.
In my own case in think st. mary's feel let me dowm. My pregnancy
was managed badly. i was a first time mother, over the age of 35, i come from a family who all suffer from hypertension and in their own words "was a high risk" Yet i was still left nearly 2 months (until i went to my doctors myself) without any samples i.e blood, being taken to monitor my progress.
I have my dauhter's medical records now and read that for some hours my daughter was not on the correct dosage of medication. Not good. I have been left feeling paranoid over my daughters death, due to the fact that in a letter sent to me, (2 weeks after Ruby-jean passed away) it says suspected nec. If i had known it was only suspected i would have had an autopsy, but by this time it was too late for that.
I am just so disapointed with st. mary's, if i ever had another child i would never want to go there an have my baby.
I hope in baby jaylen's case, that his is a success story. My thoughts an prayers are with the family at this moment and my heart goes out to them, as i know how difficult it is for them. xxx
What happened to the big clean and other plans that were going to control MRSA
in NHS Hospitals?
Another broken promise, another failed target...
Hospitals are not so good at being clean but they are superb on anti-racism, anti-homophobia, and anti-sexism and so you can't have everything. In Bolton, the first thing you are given to fill in is a form asking you your race and sexual orientation. First things first.
I have been too this hospital on Friday and Saturday and not once did any staff member mention this. I'm outraged that they are putting people at risk without giving warnings. This hosptial is a disgrace and staff levels are VERY LOW. My girlfriend had to wait 2 hours on Friday to be seen. Not one person within that time asked what was wrong with her, or other people waiting. This place needs to be shut down, a total disgrace to the NHS and Manchester.
spend a day in this stink hole before id had enough and physically moved our child to trafford general. although we were in with a baby with a serious water infection they were not taking regulay temp readings...i monitored that myself with our own equipment, after 8hrs of being ignored if drove mum and baby across to trafford. the difference in care and cleanliness was unbeliviable.
I have to agree with Pippa.
A percentage of the general public carry MRSA on the skin and many patients come into hospital already testing positive. It is always assumed that patients contract MRSA from other patients when in hospital but in many cases it comes from friends and family who come to visit. Being out in the community with MRSA is not an issue unless it gets into open wounds,
More information is needed for everyone along with the simple measures that need to be taken to prevent the spread of any infection
I used to work on the NNMU, this is certainly not the 1st time there has been an outbreak of MRSA but it is the 1st time parents have been to the media. There will always be people moaning about the care of extreamly premature babies as they are so vulnerable to infection etc. If a baby was born say at Trafford General at 22/23/24 weeks it would just be a still birth but a baby born at Mary's has that chance. The hospital will be shuting down next month and the new hospital opening! The baby got the infection from somewhere, maybe from the parent even! They have to keep visitors to 2, no children apart from siblings(infection free ones!) and wash hands for a reason
Claire
My son was on the neo-natal surgical unit for 4 months and had the best care we could have wished for. The nurses on the unit are strict about hand washing and we were in on days where they had to go to hand washing & hygiene workshops! I'm not saying the whole hospital is perfect but we didn't have any problems with the hygiene aspect or level of care. Our little boy is now a healthy happy one year old thanks to the staff at St. Mary's NNSU!
Further to your report on the MRSA cases at St. Mary's on Saturday 2nd May, it has not been mentioned that 2 premature babies died on Friday and Saturday, one in the high dependency surgical unit and one in the intensive care surgical unit, both of whom suddenly deteriorated. The hospital had said that there were seven cases of MRSA, but now they are saying that there were no cases, and that it was an error. Is it a coincidence that 2 babies died suddenly and unexpectedly or has this now become a cover-up?
I understand that this is a contentious issue and emotions will always run high when talking about issues affecting vulnerable babies however, lets be rational about this. As has been said in earlier comments, mrsa can be carried by anyone it is not just down to hospital staff but everybody who comes into contact with these babies to ensure their personal hygiene is of a high standard. The neo-natal unit has always been of a high standard in this regard. It has not been noted here that although the seven babies tested 'positive' these babies do not 'have mrsa'. This is because the majority of us would test positive for mrsa without being affected by it (see Pippa's comment below). Also, I think that general comments about St Mary's hospital are unhelpful here - we are talking about the 'neo-natal unit' which is a specialist unit for extremely poorly babies - not the general admissions wards. And, yes those areas of the hospital are just as important however, these are not the subject of this article. The staff in the neo-natal unit do an amazing job, as many will testify, and without them alot of babies would simply not be given the chance to live (see Loubys comment). Please lets not detract from this. I realise that there should not be complacency in this area and I'm sure the staff there would be the first people to agree with this. Over-sensationalised stories do not help staff who are doing a difficult enough job anyway so please look at the facts. Comments about 'cover-ups' are unwarranted and detract from the basic facts of the situation.