الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Neonatal sepsis, sepsis neonatorum, and neonatal septicemia are terms br that have been used to describe the systemic response to infection in the br newborn infant, it is a clinical syndrome characterized by systemic signs of br infection and accompanied by bacteremia in the first 28 days of life. Neonatal br sepsis still remains a significant cause of mortality and morbidity, particularly br among very low birth weight neonates and those admitted to NICUs are at a br greater risk of developing neonatal sepsis. Neonatal bacterial infection is a br common pediatric problem in Egypt; it is a major cause of fatality during br the first month of life. br An awareness of the many risk factors associated with neonatal br sepsis prepares the clinician for early identification and effective br treatment, thereby reducing mortality and morbidity. Early diagnosis and br treatment of neonatal septicemia may help decrease neonatal mortality br An accurate and timely diagnosis of early onset neonatal sepsis remains br challenging to the clinician and the laboratory. br There is no laboratory test with 100% specificity and sensitivity, br and hence, the search has continued for a reliable test. Blood culture is br the gold standard diagnosis for neonatal sepsis. The traditional sepsis br work up included various hematological parameters and CRP. br A commonly discussed sepsis biomarker is the erythrocyte br sedimentation rate (ESR). ESR can be useful in the nursery as a br preliminary step in the laboratory evaluation of the sick neonate; it is a br relatively simple procedure that continues to be used in evaluating br medical conditions. It is simple, inexpensive, and has a time-honored br role. The primary advantages of ESR are simplicity of measurement and br lack of expensive equipment requirements. |