A baby at a second Adelaide hospital has become the ninth infant to test positive for a rare bacteria following an outbreak at a separate hospital in the city.
The bacteria serratia marcescens can cause meningitis and other conditions including urinary and respiratory infections.
The new case is at the Women's and Children's Hospital special care baby unit in North Adelaide.
"The baby is receiving topical treatment and is in a stable condition," Women's and Children's Health Network clinical director Professor Jodie Dodd said.
That baby and a second baby have been placed into isolation.
Late yesterday, health authorities confirmed eight babies tested positive for serratia at Flinders Medical Centre, in Adelaide's southern suburbs.
One of those babies was in a serious but stable condition, while another suffered milder symptoms.
The more seriously ill baby was transferred to the Women's and Children's Hospital, however, Professor Dodd said the place where the bacteria was discovered at the Women's and Children's Hospital was not near where the baby was staying.
Professor Dodd said her hospital was "still working to determine" if there was "any link to the current cases" at Flinders Medical Centre.
It was possible it was a coincidence, she said.
"This still could be a chance event — it could be completely coincidental — and I'd like to assure parents of babies in the nursery that their health and wellbeing is our priority and that's part of the reason why we're doing this very, very thorough investigation," she said.
Precautionary testing of other babies in the Women's and Children's Hospital special care baby unit is underway, along with extensive cleaning.
Families of babies within the unit are being notified.
The outbreak at Flinders has been linked to a handwashing basin which has been removed.
The bacteria was first detected at Flinders two weeks ago but the outbreak was not publicly revealed until Wednesday.
The hospital is carrying out an investigation into how the bacteria entered the neonatal unit.
One of 200 environmental swabs taken of the unit, from a hand washing basin, came back positive for the bacteria.
The basin has since been removed and replaced.
