Public Health Wales is working with the paediatric team at the Children’s Hospital for Wales
A cluster of heart infections in babies in south Wales that resulted in one dying is being investigated.
Cases of severe enterovirus infections with myocarditis, began in June 2022 and involved babies under 28 days old.
They peaked in November and 10 babies in this cluster developed myocarditis – one is in hospital, eight are being treated as outpatients and one died.
Public Health Wales (PHW) is now working with the Children’s Hospital for Wales in Cardiff.
Enterovirus is a common childhood infection which rarely affects the heart.
Most babies and children recover completely, but in very young babies it can cause severe illness.
Wales’ Health Minister Eluned Morgan said: “This is still an extremely rare occurrence.
“Paediatricians in Wales have been advised and will continue to consider the possibility of myocarditis in babies presenting with sepsis.”
Sepsis, or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening reaction to an infection.
The World Health Organization has been informed about the cluster.
