The Center for Disease Control announced that a third baby has become infected with the rare Cronobacter bacteria. This Oklahoma baby, less than a month old, has already been treated and discharged from the hospital. According to a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Health, this baby had not consumed Enfamil brand formula, which was thought to originally be the cause of the recent death of a 10 day old Missouri baby. Additionally, the first baby who tested positive for the rare bacteria, from Illinois, was exposed to a variety of formula brands and other over-the-counter products, according to the FDA.

Thus, the Enfamil Premium Brand Formula that the Missouri infant consumed, is not necessarily to blame for the incredibly unfortunate death. As I recently reported, the batch of formula that the infant had consumed tested negative for the bacteria, both before it was sent to the relevant Walmart store, and after the infant died, probing further testing. Authorities are now taking samples of further formula collected from the family’s home, including both powdered and liquid formula, and the distilled water used to mix with the powder.The formula from the hospital is also being tested.

While brands other than Enfamil are being tested, the names are not being revealed, probably in an effort to avoid unnecessary negative publicity. Enfamil has also stated that it routinely checks every batch for the Cronobacter bacteria.

According to the Center for Disease Control’s website, this type of tragic infection is nothing new. In fact, in 2008, there was a similar case where two infants became infected with the bacteria, who were also fed powdered formula, and the Cronobacter was not detected in other test batches. Thus, the particular source of the bacteria was never conclusively determined, but the ingesting of formula was the only factor that the two infants had in common.

There has been no government or retailer recall of any brand of formula. Click here for more recent recalls.