Journal
LANCET
Volume 390, Issue 10104, Pages 1770-1780Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31002-4
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- National Institutes of Health
- International Scientific Society for Probiotics and Prebiotics
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Neonatal sepsis is the cause of substantial morbidity and mortality. Precise estimates of neonatal sepsis burden vary by setting. Differing estimates of disease burden have been reported from high-income countries compared with reports from low-income and middle-income countries. The clinical manifestations range from subclinical infection to severe manifestations of focal or systemic disease. The source of the pathogen might be attributed to an in-utero infection, acquisition from maternal flora, or postnatal acquisition from the hospital or community. The timing of exposure, inoculum size, immune status of the infant, and virulence of the causative agent influence the clinical expression of neonatal sepsis. Immunological immaturity of the neonate might result in an impaired response to infectious agents. This is especially evident in premature infants whose prolonged stays in hospital and need for invasive procedures place them at increased risk for hospital-acquired infections. Clinically, there is often little difference between sepsis that is caused by an identified pathogen and sepsis that is caused by an unknown pathogen. Culture-independent diagnostics, the use of sepsis prediction scores, judicious antimicrobial use, and the development of preventive measures including maternal vaccines are ongoing efforts designed to reduce the burden of neonatal sepsis.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available