Changes in Pathogens Causing Early-Onset Sepsis in Very-Low-Birth-Weight Infants

It is uncertain whether the rates and causes of early-onset sepsis (that occurring within 72 hours after birth) among very-low-birth-weight infants have changed in recent years, since antibiotics have begun to be used more widely during labor and delivery.

We studied 5447 very-low-birth-weight infants (those weighing between 401 and 1500 g) born at centers of the Neonatal Research Network of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development between 1998 and 2000 who had at least one blood culture in the first three days of life and compared them with 7606 very-low-birth-weight infants born at centers in the network between 1991 and 1993.