BIOMARKER PROFILES AS PREDICATORS OF NEONATAL SEPSIS AND RECOVERY

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Sepsis is a frequent and serious problem in neonatal intensive care units, particularly in very low birth weight infants. Diagnosis by blood culture is difficult, time consuming, and lacks sensitivity. Over 20% of all very low birth weight infants experience one or more episodes of late onset sepsis defined as any sepsis occurring after 3 days of age. The median age for the first episode of late onset sepsis is 17 days. Delaying treatment until symptoms arise can be life threatening. On the other hand, recurrent treatment with antimicrobial agents in infants that are not infected holds potential risks to these infants by furthering the development of resistant organisms. This therefore, is an ideal population to evaluate to develop a rapid and sensitive product to identify infection.