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Updated: Jun 11, 2025

A Neonatal Imaging Model of Gram-Negative Bacterial Sepsis
Published on: August 12, 2020
Neonatal Infectious Disease: A Major Contributor to Infant Mortality Requiring Advances in Point-of-Care Diagnosis
Mary Garvey1,2
1Department of Life Science, Atlantic Technological University, F91 YW50 Sligo, Ireland.
Insights
Neonatal infectious diseases pose significant risks to infants, especially with antimicrobial resistance. Novel point-of-care diagnostics show promise for early and accurate detection, improving infant outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Neonatology
- Infectious Diseases
- Biomarkers
Background:
- Neonatal infectious diseases contribute to high infant morbidity and mortality.
- Antimicrobial resistance complicates the detection and treatment of neonatal infections.
- Preterm infants and those with risk factors like central catheters are more susceptible.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review neonatal infectious disease, focusing on antimicrobial resistance.
- To highlight novel point-of-care diagnostic options for early detection.
Main Methods:
- Literature review on neonatal infectious disease and diagnostic technologies.
- Discussion of emerging diagnostic tools like biomarkers, AI, and biosensors.
- Focus on point-of-care devices for rapid diagnostics.
Main Results:
- Current blood culture diagnostics are unreliable and time-consuming.
- There is a critical need for accurate and rapid diagnostic tools for neonatal infections.
- Emerging technologies offer potential for improved diagnostic accuracy and speed.
Conclusions:
- Point-of-care devices can provide fast, reliable, and accurate diagnostic aids for neonates.
- Advancements in diagnostics are crucial for timely intervention in neonatal infectious disease.
- Addressing antimicrobial resistance requires improved diagnostic capabilities.
Abstract:
Neonatal infectious disease continues to result in high rates of infant morbidity and mortality. Early- and late-onset disease represent difficult to detect and difficult to treat illnesses, particularly when antimicrobial resistant pathogens are present. Newborns are immunodeficient and are at increased risk of vertical and horizontal infection, with preterm infants increasingly susceptible. Additional risk factors associated with infection include prolonged use of a central catheter and/or ventilation, congenital abnormalities, admittance to intensive care units, and the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics. There is increasing recognition of the importance of the host microbiome and dysbiosis on neonatal infectious disease, including necrotising enterocolitis and sepsis in patients. Current diagnostic methods rely on blood culture, which is unreliable, time consuming, and can result in false negatives. There is a lack of accurate and reliable diagnostic tools available for the early detection of infectious disease in infants; therefore, efficient triage and treatment remains challenging. The application of biomarkers, machine learning, artificial intelligence, biosensors, and microfluidics technology, may offer improved diagnostic methodologies. Point-of-care devices, such diagnostic methodologies, may provide fast, reliable, and accurate diagnostic aids for neonatal patients. This review will discuss neonatal infectious disease as impacted by antimicrobial resistance and will highlight novel point-of-care diagnostic options.
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