A HAMPSHIRE hospital has launched an investigation into the deaths of two women who died from the same infection shortly after giving birth on the same day.

Teachers Amy Kimmance, 39, and Jasmine Pickett, 29, both gave birth at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester on December 21.

But after they were both discharged, Mrs Kimmance, who gave birth to girl, died on December 23 and Mrs Pickett, who gave birth to a boy, died on December 24.

A spokeswoman for Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust said that although both women died from complications caused by a group A streptococcal infection, their death appears to be coincidental and unconnected to the hospital.

She said that Mrs Kimmance developed fatal toxic shock syndrome as a result of a group A streptococcal infection while Mrs Pickett died from a sudden onset of severe pneumonia, likely to have been caused by a group A streptococcal infection.

The spokeswoman explained that group A streptococcal infections were not 'superbugs' or hospital-acquired infections but were typically community-based and sporadic.

She added that between five and 30% of the population normally carry, but not be infected by, the streptococcus A germ.

The Trust's medical director Dr Kevin Stewart said: ''Our investigations so far show that the maternity unit is unlikely to have been the source of these infections and local women need not worry about coming to have their babies here.'' He added: ''The families of both women are in our thoughts.

''Thankfully, we live in an age where deaths during or after childbirth are very rare as are those from group A streptococcal infections.

''This makes these two deaths in a short space of time all the more shocking.''