TORONTO - Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre has closed its neonatal intensive-care ward because of a serious bacterial infection.

The unit's 41 babies remain at the hospital but several of the infants have developed abscesses, pneumonia, eye and blood infections. No deaths have been reported. Premature babies, some weighing as little as 500 grams, are extremely vulnerable to infections that are harmless to full-term babies.

The closing could last for weeks and is expected to put a severe strain on the province's neonatal care system, which is running at capacity at all times. At-risk babies and pregnant mothers may have to be sent to other cities, out of province or even to the U.S. for care.