‘High number’ of bugs are found in the blood of a nine-year-old girl whose mother, 47, allegedly injected her daughter with URINE
- A Newcastle mum, 47, has been accused of injecting her daughter, 9, with urine
- Westmead Hospital staff found a ‘high number’ of bugs in the girl’s blood tests
- The 2015 tests showed that the organisms were ‘likely to come from outside’
- Newcastle Court heard evidence from a paediatric allergist on Wednesday
Hospital staff found a ‘high number’ of bugs in blood tests of a nine-year-old in the hours after her mother allegedly injected her with urine, a NSW court has been told.
The mother, 47, denies using urine to endanger the life of her young daughter in March 2015, while she was in Sydney’s Westmead children’s hospital.
Her trial in Newcastle District Court was told no irregular microorganisms were found in blood taken on March 11 from the immune-deficient girl.
A mum (pictured), 47, has been accused of injecting her daughter, 9, with urine in March 2015
But the next blood test, taken early on March 12, quickly showed her body was fighting a large amount of bugs.
‘Those microorganisms are likely to have come in from outside,’ paediatric allergist and immunologist Dr Melanie Wong told the court on Wednesday.
‘The numbers were very high.
‘The reason I say that is that usually when there is only a small number, it can take a significant amount of time before (the blood cultures) come back.
‘In this case, we found bugs growing only hours literally, six hours or so after they were incubated.’
The girl, born in 2005, had a genetic condition with a related immunodeficiency and was regularly admitted to hospital from the age of two.
In March 2015, days after leaving a Newcastle hospital well, she returned with acute renal failure and was soon transferred to Westmead.
Dr Wong said blood samples taken on March 12 also showed levels of waste products urea and creatinine.
‘(It) was not typical and may have been consistent with the introduction of the urine into the body … via the line,’ she said.
Paediatric allergist and immunologist Dr Melanie Wong (pictured) told the court on Wednesday that blood tests showed microorganisms ‘likely to have come in from outside’
‘The potential was a problem with the kidneys but (the waste product spike) was very sudden and then went down very quickly.’
The mother, a former nurse whose identity is suppressed to protect her daughter, is also accused of illegally using laxatives on her girl twice in 2014.
She shook her head at times during Dr Wong’s evidence.
The girl, now 14, was placed into foster care soon after the alleged urine incident and has since improved ‘dramatically’ including being weaned off many medications, the court has been told.
The trial continues.