The director of a Tokyo hospital where 11 inpatients contracted an apparent serratia bacterial infection that killed seven of them told family members early on that he suspected one of the patient's symptoms were caused by a bacterial infection, not influenza as the hospital later claimed, family sources said Monday.
Seiko Ito, director of the private Ito Neurosurgical Hospital in Setagaya Ward, told the patient's family Jan. 10 that the symptoms "may have been caused by infection through intravenous drips or catheters," according to the sources.
His statement conflicts with a statement issued later by the hospital saying it believed until Jan. 12 that the symptoms were caused by influenza.