(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New research may help doctors identify and treat a
life-threatening infection that is linked to premature birth, illness and death
in order to prevent its devastating effects.
Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine identified proteins associated with
the bacterial infection early onset neonatal sepsis (EONS). The scientists said
their findings will provide key information about how EONS develops and which
infants are at risk for infection.
"We have identified changes that occur in the physiology of the fetus that is
exposed to infection and inflammation in the amniotic fluid," Yale assistant
professor Catalin Buhlimschi, M.D., was quoted as saying.
Premature births account for 75 percent of infant mortality and 50 percent of
long-term handicaps, including blindness, deafness, developmental delays and
cerebral palsy, researchers said. They said not all of these health issues are
dependent on the babies' gestational ages at birth but rather on other
processes, such as EONS.
EONS is extremely difficult to diagnose. Currently, at-risk women are given
antibiotics before delivery, and at birth, babies are treated with another round
of antibiotics. Researchers said these antibiotics can mask the presence of
EONS, leading to false negative bacterial culture test results and development
of antibiotic resistance.
The Yale findings may lead to earlier identification of EONS so that only babies
who need treatment receive antibiotics, Buhlimschi said.
"We hope this research will lead to identifying babies who will develop EONS so
that we can prevent its potentially devastating effects," Buhlimschi said.
SOURCE: Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal
Medicine in San Diego, California
