European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

To compare the sensitivity of blood cultures on Day 1(24 Hours) Day 3 (72 Hours) & Day 5(120 Hours) in neonatal sepsis.
Materials and Methods: The study was a hospital based observational study conducted in the neonatal ICU, Dept. of Paediatrics and Dept. Of Microbiology, SKIMS, Srinagar, from 1st January 2016 to 1st June 2017. All those neonates with features of sepsis like lethargy, refusal of feeds, irritability, fever, seizure and deranged lab values like CRP, Procalcitonin, and CBC were considered in study. Before drawing blood culture samples, neonates already on antibiotics were excluded from the study. In addition, participants with incomplete details were also excluded from the study.
Results: In our study 1060 cultures were sent from neonates suspected to have sepsis. A total of 85 cultures were found to be positive with an overall culture positivity of 8%. Out of them 64 (75.3%) were positive within 24 hours of incubation (subsequently referred to as culture positive on day 1), 17 (20.0%) were culture positive on day 3 (within 72 hours of incubation, but not within 24 hours) and 4 (4.7%) were culture positive on day 5 (within 120 hours of incubation but not within 72 hours of incubation).
Conclusion: We recommend incubating cultures for 5 days to pick up additional 5% cases of neonatal sepsis.