Epidemiology of Neonatal Sepsis in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Assiut University Children Hospital

More than 40% of under-five deaths globally occur in the neonatal period, resulting in 3.1 million newborn death each year.

The majority of these deaths usually occur in low income countries . On the other hand, the survivors of neonatal sepsis are vulnerable to short- and long term neurodevelopmental morbidity .

Neonatal sepsis is a clinical syndrome characterized by signs and symptoms of infection with or without accompanying bacteremia in the first month of life. It includes various systemic infections of the newborn such as septicemia, meningitis, pneumonia, arthritis, osteomyelitis, and urinary tract infections. Superficial infections like conjunctivitis and oral thrush are usually not included under neonatal sepsis.

Diagnosis of sepsis in neonates is challenging due to nonspecific signs and symptoms. The salient clinical features include systemic signs of infection such as fever, hypothermia, tachycardia, failure to thrive, lethargy, irritability, restlessness In addition, laboratory diagnosis until recently was time-consuming. This, therefore, necessitates the initiation of empirical antibiotic therapy pending a definitive diagnosis .

Neonatal sepsis is caused by Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and Candida. The diversity of organisms causing sepsis varies from region to another and changes over time even in the same place .