[Clinical observation of neonatal sepsis]

Sepsis remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in newborn infants. From January 1983 to April 1988, 166 cases of neonatal sepsis with positive blood cultures were collected at V.G.H.--Taichung. Among them 140 newborn babies were delivered at private clinic (outborn babies), 26 cases were inborn babies. Of the inborn babies, 20 cases (76.9%) were early onset sepsis (the onset of illness within 96 hours of life) and 6 cases (23.1%) were late onset sepsis (the onset of illness beyond 96 hours of life). Off the outborn babies, 64 cases (45.7%) were early onset sepsis and 76 cases (54.3%) were late onset sepsis. The Gram positive organism (51.9%) was more common than the Gram negative organism in the inborn babies, on contrary, the Gram negative organism (59.0%) was more common in the outborn babies. The most common pathogenic organism of the inborn babies was Enterococcus (22.2%) and E. coli (22.2%), followed by Pseudomonas spp (11.1%) and Staphylococcus aureus (11.1%). The most common pathogenic organism of the outborn babies was Enterococcus (17.4%), followed by E. coli (16.1%), Staphylococcus aureus (9.9%) and Klebsiella spp (8.1%). The antibiotics sensitivity tests to the pathogens didn't show any significant difference between these two group babies. In this clinical study, we found that the first choices of antibiotics were ampicillin plus aminoglycosides. The clinical symptoms and signs were nonspecific. The most common findings were lethargy, fever, hypothermia and poor feeding. Of the inborn babies, 17 cases (65.4%) had the predisposing factor(s). Of the outborn babies, 42 cases (30%) had the predisposing factor(s).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)