The babies in the neonatal intensive care unit were found to have necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC. The disease mostly affects premature infants and causes inflammation and destruction of the bowel or parts of the bowel.
Typically, NEC occurs within the first two weeks of life, following milk feeding.
According to medical experts, the disease could be due to the sensitivity of premature infants' bowels. A doctor at University Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit tells WLWT-TV, when food doesn't move through the intestines quickly enough, it can start breaking down the intestinal walls.
Once the intestines are damaged, fever and other infections throughout the body can follow.
In mild cases, NEC causes fever, belly tenderness and bloody diarrhea. In severe cases, it can be fatal. The five other infected infants are recovering.
Reports claim doctors don't know how NEC is spread. But, as a precaution, University Hospital is limiting admissions to the neonatal intensive care unit.
Officials say other babies are not showing any sign of this disease, but to be safe, they're being kept in a different room and being cared for by separate doctors and nurses.
