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". Criteria with regards to hemodynamic compromise or respiratory failure are not useful clinically because these symptoms often do not arise in neonates until death is imminent and unpreventable.
Neonatal sepsis is divided into two categories: early-onset
sepsis (EOS) and late-onset
sepsis (LOS). EOS refers to
sepsis presenting in the first 7 days of life (although some refer to EOS as within the first 72 hours of life), with LOS referring to presentation of
sepsis after 7 days (or 72 hours, depending on the system used).
Neonatal sepsis is the single most common cause of
neonatal death in hospital as well as community in developing country.
Relevant Topics in Medical Sciences