New test could help catch serious infections in babies
October 6, 2008 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Women's Health
Infections in babies under three months old are serious and need to be diagnosed and treated as quickly as possible. Now, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics, all that may be needed is a simple blood test to find out which babies may be at highest risk for serious infections. This new test may help detect the risk of a young infant developing serious bacterial infections like urinary tract infections and blood stream infections.
By detecting a new diagnostic marker called procalcitonin, doctors may be able to identify infants at high risk for these types of infections, holding off the more invasive and aggressive testing of babies who aren’t considered to be at high risk. Currently, if an infant has a fever, blood tests and urine tests are done automatically and in many cases, so are spinal taps (lumbar punctures). This is a painful and traumatic test. Also, often the babies are kept overnight in hospital, which may end up not being necessary.
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Image: Newscom
Tags: pregnancy blog, infant with fever, infections in babies.
