BEAVERTON -- One baby died at Providence St. Vincent Hospital after being exposed to a staph bacteria in the neonatal intensive care unit, officials said Friday.

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Hospital officials said the staph infection was a "contributing factor" in the infant's death.

The bacteria was detected during a routine inspection; doctors began treating a group of babies Thursday night.

There were 46 babies in the unit at the time. Fourteen of the babies were identified as having the bacteria on their skin or in their nose or mouth. The baby that died was the only one identified as having the bacteria in his or her bloodstream.

“They [neonatal babies] are very fragile and they can get sick very easily,” said Marcia Tolmasoff, Director of the NICU at Providence St. Vincent.

“We did cultures on the babies… and we found the bacteria,” Tolmasoff added. “As soon as it was identified, we thoroughly cleaned the NICU. We gave some of the babies who could handle it a cleaning bath, a bath with antibacterial soap. And then we give the babies an antibiotic applied to their nose."

Inspectors have not been able to determine where the staph bacteria came from. But they do believe the NICU is safe now.

Providence St. Vincent has the largest NICU in the state of Oregon. Officials said staph bacteria is detected in hospitals fairly often, so Providence was well-prepared to deal with it.