Detection of the microbial patterns in a cohort of infants admitted to neonatal intensive care.

Newborn babies admitted into the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) often require many supportive invasive devices and frequently receive antimicrobial therapy. We investigated the microbial flora in NICU patients reporting the distribution of infections in different catheter sites. Results showed that 97% of samples were positive; in particular 11% were positive for two or more microbial agents.

Hospital-acquired infection surveillance in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Background: Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) represent an important cause of morbidity and mortality in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).

Methods: All neonates admitted for > 48 hours between January 2003 and December 2006 in the NICU of the teaching hospital Umberto I of Rome, Italy were considered.

Results: Of the 575 neonates evaluated, 76 (13.

Neonatal Candida albicans septic thrombosis of the portal vein followed by cavernous transformation of the vessel.

We report two premature neonates with Candida albicans septic thrombosis of the portal vein who developed, in very early childhood, the sonographic appearance of cavernous transformation of the vessel and/or clinical signs of extrahepatic portal hypertension.

C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and procalcitonin in the immediate postnatal period: influence of illness severity, risk status, antenatal and perinatal complications, and infection.

Background: Studies of the diagnostic accuracy of most laboratory tests for early-onset neonatal sepsis have yielded variable results. We investigated whether some of this variation might be attributable to differences in population baseline severity and risk status as well as to specific ante- and perinatal variables, independent of the presence of neonatal infection.

Methods: The Score for Neonatal Acute Physiology (SNAP) was used to define illness severity, with SNAP Perinatal Extension (SNAP-PE) used to define the combined physiologic and perinatal mortality risk.