Tag Archives: infection control

Screening for early-onset neonatal sepsis in the UK. NICE or not?

Posted on 4 August 2020 by Keith Barrington

Evaluating a screening procedure for a rare serious phenomenon, such as early-onset neonatal sepsis, is tricky. A perfect screening process would catch all of the cases that require treating at an early stage and would be completely specific, thus eliminating … Continue reading →

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Where does sepsis come from?

Posted on 25 November 2019 by Keith Barrington

One of the findings of the recent SIFT trial was that although the babies in the fast feeding group had shorter duration of parenteral nutrition, TPN, (and presumably of central lines), they did not have less late-onset sepsis, LOS. Why … Continue reading →

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RCTs prevail: Antibiotic impregnation of central lines doesn’t reduce sepsis.

Posted on 9 May 2019 by Keith Barrington

In older children and adults who need central venous access, using catheters impregnated with stuff that kills bugs decreases invasive sepsis rates. A multicentre trial in English PICUs showed a reduction in sepsis from 4% to 1% when antibiotic impregnated … Continue reading →

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Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation, does it make you feel like a DIC?

Posted on 4 April 2018 by Keith Barrington

Influenza is crap. Especially when you get it even though you have had the vaccine! The break in blog posts has been due to an assortment of viral illnesses, culminating in the “flu” and then followed by spring break, followed … Continue reading →

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Single Family Rooms in the NICU

Posted on 24 March 2017 by Keith Barrington

We have just moved to a brand new NICU, with 80 beds, in 60 single family rooms, and 10 twin rooms. It is enormous, and beautiful, each room has a parent space with a smallish pull out bed (not enough … Continue reading →

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Reducing antibiotic use in full term babies.

Posted on 27 January 2017 by Keith Barrington

Early onset neonatal sepsis currently has an incidence in North America among term infants of about 0.5 to 1 per thousand live births. But 15% of newborn infants have risk factors and they end up receiving antibiotics if current guidelines … Continue reading →

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Toxicity of reflux medications in infancy

Posted on 2 December 2016 by Keith Barrington

Before I leave the topic for at least a few days, I thought I would discuss data about the toxicity of reflux medications in older children. Most of my ‘toxic placebo’ comments have been about studies in preterm infants, and … Continue reading →

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Neonatal Sepsis after Chorioamnionitis, what to do about healthy appearing newborns

Posted on 23 November 2016 by Keith Barrington

In 2007, when I was chair of the CPS Fetus and Newborn Committee, we published a guideline regarding the approach to term and late preterm infants with perinatal risk factors for sepsis. Obviously any infant with clinical signs consistent with … Continue reading →

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Culture negative sepsis: what is it?

Posted on 27 May 2016 by Keith Barrington

One of the things that I have wondered about over the years is whether infants who appear to be infected, but who have negative cultures, might have viral infections. A new study suggests that this is not rare. Kidszun A, et … Continue reading →

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The microbiome of plastic tubes in children

Posted on 16 May 2016 by Keith Barrington

Petersen SM, et al. Nasogastric feeding tubes from a neonatal department yield high concentrations of potentially pathogenic bacteria – even one day after insertion. Pediatr Res. 2016.  These authors cultured 94 nasogastric feeding tubes from 34 preterm infants. 1 ml … Continue reading →

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