Antimicrobial PK in Infants With Suspected or Confirmed Infection

Greater than 90% of infants born <32 weeks admitted to critical care nurseries are treated with antimicrobial agents during their NICU hospitalization. Most antimicrobial products used in the neonatal population lack some aspect of pharmacokinetic information specific to neonates. Dosing is based largely on pharmacokinetic data from older children or in some cases, adults. This study will also establish a bank of urine samples from newborns treated with antimicrobial and/or antifungal therapy and to characterize the urinary proteome in selected samples. The sites of the NIH-sponsored Pediatric Pharmacology Research Network (PPRU) have access to appropriate assays using microliter amounts of serum and a large pool of potential subjects to generate meaningful data that will

1. Guide dosing of commonly used antimicrobial agents, and
2. Provide preliminary data for future industry and government trials in the nursery.