Tag Archives: infection control

Position statements and overtreatment

Posted on 12 June 2014 by Keith Barrington

A few years ago when I was chair of the Canadian Paediatric Society Fetus and Newborn Committee, we produced a statement about what to do with full term babies with risk factors for sepsis. Our recommendation was, to put it … Continue reading →

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Prophylactic fluconazole works; but we shouldn’t use it?

Posted on 6 May 2014 by Keith Barrington

A new high quality multicenter RCT examined the effects of fluconazole prophylaxis in about 360 very tiny babies (VTB), that is they weighed less than 750g at birth. They were enrolled in the first 5 days of life to fluconazole … Continue reading →

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Yet more probiotic stuff

Posted on 14 February 2014 by Keith Barrington

Here is the other study of saccharomyces that I mentioned previously on this blog (Demirel G, Erdeve O, Celik IH, Dilmen U: Saccharomyces boulardii for prevention of necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants: A randomized, controlled study. Acta Paediatrica 2013) recently … Continue reading →

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Susceptibility to Sepsis

Posted on 20 August 2013 by Keith Barrington

It looks like those Toll-like receptors may indeed be important. I included a review article in a previous Neonatal Updates, which was nice introduction to these transmembrane receptors that are important in immune responses. A new article suggests that variants … Continue reading →

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Chlorhexidine absorption through the skin

Posted on 2 June 2013 by Keith Barrington

Chapman AK, Aucott SW, Gilmore MM, Advani S, Clarke W, Milstone AM: Absorption and tolerability of aqueous chlorhexidine gluconate used for skin antisepsis prior to catheter insertion in preterm neonates. J Perinatol 2013. This group from Hopkins measured chlorhexidine serum … Continue reading →

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Breast = best: past your eyes?

Posted on 20 March 2013 by Keith Barrington

The title is from one of those bad punny jokes that you never forget, about taking a bath in milk (pasteurized? No just up to my chin. Boom, boom). For the readers of this blog who are not native English … Continue reading →

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More about reflux: anti-acid medications may also be toxic placebos

Posted on 28 November 2012 by Keith Barrington

While I am still finalizing my long overdue chapter on gastro-esophageal reflux (sorry Sanjay if you are reading this, it is on its way, honestly) I have been reviewing the data on acid blockade as a potential treatment. Probably the … Continue reading →

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Glutamine supplementation, just when you thought it was solved…

Posted on 24 October 2012 by Keith Barrington

Glutamine is one of the most abundant amino acids in our bodies, but there is relatively little in TPN as it is poorly soluble. During the first few days of limited enteral nutrition preterm babies receive little glutamine from any … Continue reading →

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CRPs; are they CRaP?

Posted on 19 September 2012 by Keith Barrington

I was taught before asking for a test to always ask myself 2 questions. What will I do if the result is negative? What will I do if the result is positive? The counsel was that if the 2 answers … Continue reading →

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What is heteroresistance?

Posted on 20 June 2012 by Keith Barrington

Recent cases of coagulase negative staphylococci, that were very difficult to eradicate, have led to an assessment of whether the phenomenon of heteroresistance may play a part. To be honest, for me this is entirely new; I was not aware … Continue reading →

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