Infectious Diseases

i am wondering where you put your infants ventilation bags. Our nursing staff puts them inside the isolette or radiant warmer bed. Mostly you can find them hanging around at the end of the bed (feet). Sometimes the dedicated mask is connected to the bag, sometimes it is put in a different place of the same bed. Our bags and masks are changed every 7 days together with the vent. circuits for infection control. The rationale for that practice is that most of our nurses believe, that they can find and handle the bags faster and easier as if they were placed outside the beds, attached or clamped on the side of the bed or isolette where one can easily grab them if needed. N…

Dear Colleagues, Most of us on suspicion of neonatal blood stream bacterial infection initiate antibiotic therapy and stop it if the blood cultures are negative and the baby is well (usually 48 hours), but what there does not seem to be a consensus is as to how long antibiotic therapy should be continued in culture proven blood stream infection (not meningitis or osteomyelitis) or culture negative but clinically suspected or surrogate marker supported blood stream infection. In our survey of 210 neonatal units in UK some years ago the range varied from 5 to 21 days! What I would like to know from colleagues is; 1. How long do you give antibiotics in culture proven b…

Does anyone have any experience with this drug resistant organism? We recently had 2 babies test positive. Thanks

dear all, I want no know about the best antibiotic to be given to babies as prophylactic when babies are admitted to the nicu

An eye opener !! Antimicrobial policies in the neonatal units of the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Fernando AM, Heath PT, Menson EN. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2008 Mar;61(3):743-5. Epub 2008 Jan 31. http://jac.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/61/3/743

This is a conceptual - philosophical issue that may also be discussed in the Lounge or in a Blog post. But I decided to post it here! This interesting thread underscored what I have thought about for a pretty long time, that the management of infections has a pretty weak evidence-base. And that we should try do something about it! We do not know terribly much which drug combinations to use and dosing schedules. You may think "so what... are there not a lot of clinical management scenarios that cannot be backed up by the level-A evidence?" I'd say that's a completely valid point, but infections are really an every-day clinical problem. It would not be hard to recrui…

Does anyone use IVIG in the management of neonatal sepsis? If yes what is the indication af starting IVIG in these neonates? What has been your experience with IVIG in sepsis cases?

There has been an increasing incidence of fungal infections in nicu babies . I would like to know from members incidence of fungemia in their units, and whether prophylactic antifungal therapy is stared empirically or they wait for isolation of fungs+ from blood culture or colonisation from surface.

Background In 1988, the World Health Assembly resolved to eradicate poliomyelitis. Although substantial progress toward this goal has been made, eradication remains elusive. In 2004, the World Health Organization called for the development of a potentially more immunogenic monovalent type 1 oral poliovirus vaccine. Methods We conducted a trial in Egypt to compare the immunogenicity of a newly licensed monovalent type 1 oral poliovirus vaccine with that of a trivalent oral poliovirus vaccine. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive one dose of monovalent type 1 oral poliovirus vaccine or trivalent oral poliovirus vaccine at birth. Thirty days after birth, a single…

There is nice review of the efficacy of Prophylactic antibiotics in the prevention of catheter-associated bloodstream bacterial infection in preterm neonates. 1. Lodha A, Furlan AD, Whyte H, Moore AM. Prophylactic antibiotics in the prevention of catheter-associated bloodstream bacterial infection in preterm neonates: a systematic review. J Perinatol. 2008 Apr 10;28(8):526-533. LINK TO THIS FREE ARTICLE Do you use prophylactic antibiotis in your NICU? If yes, then in which patients? What has been your experience? Do share it with us...