A third premature baby died from a rare hospital-acquired blood infection at the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital in Glasgow.

Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board would not confirm when the third baby died, but said the Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection was one of the contributing factors.

In January, it was revealed that two babies had died and a third was said to be in a “stable” condition with the bacterial infection.

Read more: Two babies die at Princess Royal Maternity Hospital

The health board said they had been 'rigorously' managing a number of cases, but said since early March no further patients had tested positive for the infection.

A statement from the health board said: "Three babies, who were extremely poorly due to their very early birth, sadly died and infection was one of a number of contributing causes in their deaths.

“A programme of staff and family screening was carried out, as has been previously reported.

Read more: Four babies in new bacteria scare

“As this was an extremely rare strain which is highly resistant to the two antibiotics normally prescribed for Staphylococcus aureus and the skin cleaning agent routinely used in hospitals across the UK, we put in place a number of further infection control measures including the prescribing of different antibiotics and the introduction of a new skin cleaning agent.”

The baby's death, revealed by the Daily Record newspaper, brings the number of deaths after picking up hospital acquired infections in Greater Glasgow and Clyde to seven since January.

A 73-year-old woman and a 10-year-old boy both died after contracting cryptococcus – an infection linked to pigeon droppings – at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in January.

Read more: Infection control measures beefed up at Glasgow hospital

Later that month, the health board announced a second infection at the same hospital. Two patients tested positive for the mucor virus. One of them, gran Mito Kaur, 63, died on March 14.

The following month a patient at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, died after contracting bacterial infection stenotrophomonas maltophilia.

Charlotte Alexander was born 12 weeks premature at the Royal Alexandria Hospital in Paisley on January 4 and was transferred to the PRM where she was in an incubator next to one of the babies who died.