{"id":461636,"date":"2026-03-07T00:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T00:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/461636\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T00:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T00:09:11","slug":"wet-wipe-warning-for-uk-households-after-6-deaths-and-62-struck-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/461636\/","title":{"rendered":"Wet wipe warning for UK households after 6 deaths and 62 struck down"},"content":{"rendered":"

UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has warned UK households not to use four brands of skin cleansing wipes \u201cunder any circumstances\u201d.\"Wet<\/p>\n

Wet wipe warning for UK households after 6 deaths and 62 struck down<\/p>\n

A wet wipe warning has been issued after SIX were left dead with 62 struck down by<\/a> potentially life-threatening bacteria. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has warned UK households not to use four brands of skin cleansing wipes \u201cunder any circumstances\u201d.<\/p>\n

The warning from the UKHSA comes amid fears they could harbour a deadly bacteria. There was still <\/a>\u201can ongoing risk of infection associated with their use\u201d and the bacteria burkholderia stabilis (B. stabilis), they added.<\/p>\n

Now, reporting the outbreak in the journal Eurosurveillance, UKHSA experts said: \u201cAs of February 2026, 59 confirmed cases and three probable cases have been identified.<\/p>\n

READ MORE Major UK supermarket giant set for huge shake-up – 100 jobs at risk<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFive confirmed and one probable case died within 30 days of detection of B. stabilis. One death was attributed to their Burkholderia infection.\u201d<\/p>\n

After testing almost 200 products, officials discovered B. stabilis in four brands of skin cleansing wipes intended for first aid.<\/p>\n

Three of the four \u201coriginated from the same UK manufacturing site\u201d, they said.<\/p>\n

They added: \u201cThe B. stabilis outbreak is ongoing and associated with non-sterile alcohol-free skin cleansing wipes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr James Elston, consultant in epidemiology and public health at UKHSA, said: \u201cWe are reminding the public not to use, and to dispose of, certain non-sterile alcohol-free wipes which have been linked to an outbreak of Burkholderia stabilis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe overall risk to the public remains very low, and affected products have been withdrawn from sale.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, we are continuing to see a small number of cases in vulnerable patients, and we are now aware of one associated death.<\/p>\n

\u201cNon-sterile alcohol-free wipes, of any type or brand, should not be used for the treatment of injuries, wounds, or broken skin; and they should never be used to clean intravenous lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four products, which should not be used under any circumstances, are:<\/p>\n

ValueAid Alcohol Free Cleansing Wipes<\/p>\n

Microsafe Moist Wipe Alcohol Free<\/p>\n

Steroplast Sterowipe Alcohol Free Cleansing Wipes<\/p>\n

Reliwipe Alcohol Free Cleansing Wipes (testing revealed contamination with a Burkholderia strain not related to the outbreak)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has warned UK households not to use four brands of skin cleansing wipes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,104,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-461636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-nhs","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}