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medpundit |
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Thursday, July 25, 2002Both E. coli and Group B strep are natural residents in the vagina. Not every newborn is threatened by them. Yet, it can be difficult to predict which baby will pick up the infection. A direct comparison of screening everyone with taking a risk-based approach found fewer babies got Group B strep if everyone was screened and treated. But, at the same time, another study that looked at infections in low birth weight babies found that the same number of babies get sick, but more of them have infections caused by antibiotic resistant E. coli. This was especially true if their mothers received antibiotics for Group B strep during their delivery. The study in low birth weight infants is particularly relevant because these infants are very vulnerable to infection. Any trends in types of infection and in their resistance to antibiotics would likely show up in them before it shows up in the normal newborn population. This is a warning to us all. We need to be more careful with antibiotics, even though it may mean we will miss the chance to prevent a few group B step infections. The neonatal nursery at the hospital where I practice has made the prevention of Group B strep a priority. Not only do all women get screened and treated with antibiotics, all babies get antibiotics for at least fourty-eight hours if their mothers weren’t screened or if their mothers didn’t recieve the requisite two doses of antibiotics during labor. It’s a mandatory protocol that all doctors caring for newborns there must follow. I don’t know what effect this has had on Group B strep infections, but I know that this past weekend I treated my first case since residency of E. coli sepsis in a normal newborn. Makes me wonder..... posted by Sydney on 7/25/2002 07:19:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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