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SEPTICAEMIA OF HTE NEWBORN, ASSOCIATED WITH RUPTURED FOERAL MEBBRANES, DISCOLOURED AMNIOTIC FLUID OR MATERNAL FEVER
Author(s) -
KUNDSEN FINN URSIN,
STEINRUD JANNE
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1976.tb18010.x
Subject(s) - medicine , amniotic fluid , incidence (geometry) , transplacental , asphyxia , neonatal infection , obstetrics , pediatrics , gestational age , pregnancy , umbilical cord , low birth weight , fetus , placenta , immunology , genetics , physics , optics , biology
. The incidence of neonatal septicaemia associated with prolonged rupture of foetal membranes, discoloured amniotic fluid and/or maternal fever was investigated. A total of 807 blood cultures were performed on 329 neonates, the placental end of 239 umbilical cords and on 239 mothers. The study showed that in 97% of the neonates with a complicated delivery there was no evidence of septicaemia. Septicaemia was verified in 3% of the infants, and was intimately associated with low birth weight (p = 0.02), neonatal asphyxia (p < 10 ‐4 ) clinical evidence of septicaemia (p < 10 ‐4 ) and maternal fever(p = 0.002). The incidence was particularly high in premature infants with neonatal asphyxia (27%) and in neonates born to febrile mothers (20%). None of the mothers showed any evidence of septicaemia, and haematogenous, transplacental spread of infection to the child was not seen. Routine prophylactic antibiotic therapy in neonates with a complicated delivery should therefore be reserved, in our opinion, for those infants at high risk of infection.