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Neonatal sepsis is a type of neonatal infection and specifically refers to the presence in a newborn baby of a bacterial blood stream infection (BSI) (such as meningitis, pneumonia, pyelonephritis, or gastroenteritis) in the setting of fever. Older textbooks may refer to neonatal sepsis as "sepsis neonatorum".
Neonatal sepsis of the newborn is an infection that has spread through the entire body. The inflammatory response to this systematic infection can be as serious as the infection itself. [ 26 ] In infants that weigh under 1500 g, sepsis is the most common cause of death.
Children have greater compensatory mechanisms than adults and can maintain a normal blood pressure despite considerable loss of fluid. For example, a child with sepsis or severe dehydration may seem unaffected and the acute condition is often identified only by the affected vital parameters. [13]
Septic shock is a result of a systemic response to infection or multiple infectious causes. The precipitating infections that may lead to septic shock if severe enough include but are not limited to appendicitis, pneumonia, bacteremia, diverticulitis, pyelonephritis, meningitis, pancreatitis, necrotizing fasciitis, MRSA and mesenteric ischemia.
Calculating the infection rate is used to analyze trends for the purpose of infection and disease control. [1] An online infection rate calculator has been developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that allows the determination of the streptococcal A infection rate in a population.
Neonatal sepsis can be difficult to diagnose as newborns may be asymptomatic. [92] If a newborn shows signs and symptoms suggestive of sepsis, antibiotics are immediately started and are either changed to target a specific organism identified by diagnostic testing or discontinued after an infectious cause for the symptoms has been ruled out. [93]
Neonatal meningitis is a serious medical condition in infants that is rapidly fatal if untreated.Meningitis, an inflammation of the meninges, the protective membranes of the central nervous system, is more common in the neonatal period (infants less than 44 days old) than any other time in life, and is an important cause of morbidity and mortality globally.
Usually affecting newborns, Sclerema neonatorum manifests itself during the first week of life, though some cases have been documented to occur outside of this time frame. Based on the compilation of case reports, it appears that men may experience the condition slightly more frequently than women (male to female ratio: 1.6:1).