Active clinical trials for "Neonatal Sepsis"

Very preterm infants (<32 weeks gestation) show the immaturity of organs and have high nutrient requirements for growth and development. In the first weeks, they have difficulties tolerating enteral nutrition (EN) and are often given supplemental parenteral nutrition (PN). A fast transition to full EN is important to improve gut maturation and reduce the high risk of late-onset sepsis (LOS), related to their immature immunity in gut and blood. Conversely, too fast increase of EN predisposes to feeding intolerance and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Further, human milk feeding is not sufficient to support nutrient requirements for growth of very preterm infants. Thus, it remains a difficult task to optimize EN transition, achieve adequate nutrient intake and growth, and minimize NEC and LOS in the postnatal period of very preterm infants. Mother´s own milk (MM) is considered the best source of EN for very preterm infants and pasteurized human donor milk (DM) is the second choice if MM is absent or not sufficient. The recommended protein intake is 4-4.5 g/kg/d for very low birth infants when the target is a postnatal growth similar to intrauterine growth rates. This amount of protein cannot be met by feeding only MM or DM. Thus, it is common practice to enrich human milk with human milk fortifiers (HMFs, based on ingredients used in infant formulas) to increase growth, bone mineralization and neurodevelopment, starting from 7-14 d after birth and 80-160 ml/kg feeding volume per day. Bovine colostrum (BC) is the first milk from cows after parturition and is rich in protein (80-150 g/L) and bioactive components. These components may improve gut maturation, NEC protection, and nutrient assimilation, even across species. Studies in preterm pigs show that feeding BC alone, or DM fortified with BC, improves growth, gut maturation, and NEC resistance during the first 1-2 weeks, relative to DM, or DM fortified with conventional HMFs. On this background, the investigators hypothesize that BC, used as a fortifier for MM or DM, can reduce feeding intolerance than conventional fortifiers.

More than half of under-five deaths in Bangladesh occur in the first month of life (neonatal period), and a substantial proportion of these deaths are due to infections (sepsis). According to the recently formulated Bangladesh National Neonatal Health Strategy (NNHS), the Government of Bangladesh is committed to improve access to quality management of neonatal infections. The strategy emphasizes that health service providers at all levels acquire the skills for managing sepsis. Responding to the recommendations in the National Neonatal Health Strategy, this operations research seeks to evaluate alternative approaches for the management of neonatal sepsis in the community. The evaluation will focus on assessing intervention coverage, provider quality of care, and referral and referral compliance, and will undertake cost-benefit analysis of community-based neonatal sepsis management. The programme and evaluation will be within the existing health service delivery system in Bangladesh and is thus designed to inform the effective scaling up of neonatal sepsis management and contribute to the implementation of the NNHS. The interventions to be evaluated will be nested in the Maternal, Neonatal and Child Survival (MNCS) programme being implemented by the Government of Bangladesh, in partnership with and supported by UNICEF, and several national NGOs. This operations research is being implemented by the Government of Bangladesh in collaboration with UNICEF, SNL - Save the Children (USA), Bangladesh Perinatal Society, and ICDDR,B. It will take place in four MNCS programme upazilas, where 10 unions will be randomly selected for intervention and 10 unions will be comparison. The intervention consists of training of community health workers, village doctors and health facility workers on managing neonatal sepsis in addition to essential newborn care training. In the comparison areas the health workers will only receive essential newborn care training. The intervention and evaluation will continue for at least 18 months, with rolling surveys and two special surveys at 6 and 12 months into the project. The rolling surveys will look at intervention coverage, care-seeking, and referral and referral compliance, while the two special surveys will assess provider performance, referral compliance, and quality of care. In addition, the investigators will document implementation processes to understand what worked and what did not and why.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of Wondaleaf Adhesive Pouch (WLAP) in the prevention of umbilical cord infection among full-term neonates. Methods: This is a prospective double-blinded randomized controlled trial on 218 term neonates in which 109 each was randomly assigned to interventional and conventional group. The Wondaleaf Adhesive Pouch (WLAP) dressings were applied to umbilical stumps of the term neonates in interventional group by trained midwife on the first day immediate after delivery. Mothers or caregivers were taught to observe the umbilical stump the subsequent days till the stump detached. The observations are supported by photographic images taken by caregiver and evaluated by the trial team and reporting inflammation with immediately removal of WLAP or otherwise no sign of infection till the detachment of stump.

Feeding intolerance is a common problem in very preterm infants due to their immature digestive system. This intolerance extends the time to full enteral feeding and thereby also prolongs the time on parenteral nutrition (PN). Prolonged time to full enteral feeding may predispose these infants to a higher risk of growth retardation, infections and organ dysfunctions (e.g. liver, brain). Mother's own milk (MM) is considered the optimal nutrition for preterm infants and is superior to infant formula (including preterm formula, PF) in stimulating gut maturation, feeding tolerance, resistance against necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and late-onset sepsis (LOS), and long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes. However, MM is often absent, or not available in sufficient amounts, during the first days or weeks after preterm delivery. Human donor milk (DM) is probably a better supplement to MM than PF, but DM is not available for all hospitals. To supplement insufficient MM during the early neonatal period in hospital settings with no access to donor milk, we suggest that bovine colostrum (BC) may be used instead of PF for very preterm infants during early life. BC, the first milk from cows after birth, is a rich source of protein and bioactive components, including lactoferrin, lysozyme, lactoperoxidase, immunoglobulins, and various growth factors, such as IGF-I and -II, EGFs, and TGF-β. BC has repeatedly been shown to improve gut maturation and NEC/LOS resistance in a well-established piglet model of preterm infants. We suggest a randomized, controlled trial to investigate the effects of BC vs. PF, supplemented to MM during the first 2 weeks, on the time to full enteral feeding in very preterm infants.

Purpose of this study is determine if skin application of chlorhexidine at birth would reduce infection in infants weighing <1500 g at birth.

The investigators aim is to investigate whether adjuvant Pentoxifylline , IgM enriched IVIG or Pentoxifylline plus IgM-enriched IVIG reduced mortality from Neonatal sepsis.

A randomized, prospective study comparing methylene blue versus terlipressin in treatment of catecholamines resistant shock in preterm neonate

Premature birth is a major cause of neonatal death in addition to neonatal asphyxia and infections. Early in life, premature babies must get aggressive nutrition so that there is no extrauterine growth restriction (EUGR) in the Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) group compared to the non-IUGR group. Other factors that also play a role are long episodes of fasting, the fulfillment of nutrition (macro and micronutrients) from the start, time to start breastfeeding (ASI), duration of parenteral total administration, the incidence of respiratory distress syndrome and incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis. Zinc is one of the micronutrients which is very risky for deficiency in premature babies. Babies with zinc deficiency experience growth disorders as much as 67%. In India, infants who received zinc supplementation increased after being given 10 days of zinc supplementation and lower mortality rates in the group with supplementation. Very low birth weight babies and bronchopulmonary dysplasia who received zinc supplementation during the week showed good clinical progress and the growth rate also increased. The investigators believe this study has the potential for decreasing infant mortality from its current level and can be a growth indicator for preterm babies.

The optimum duration of intravenous antibiotic therapy for culture-proven neonatal bacterial sepsis is not known. Current practices, ranging from 7 days to 14 days of antibiotics, are not evidence-based. This is a randomized, active -controlled, multi-centric, non-inferiority trial to compare the efficacy of a 7-day course of intravenous antibiotics versus a 14-day course among neonates weighing > 1000 g at birth with culture-proven bacterial sepsis that is uncomplicated by meningitis, bone or joint infections deep-seated abscesses. The primary outcome measure is a definite or probable relapse within 21 days after stoppage of antibiotics.

This study evaluates the non-inferiority of a protocol of limited evaluation (complete blood count, blood culture) and clinical observation by standardized physical examination versus the algorithm suggested in the CDC's 2010 guidelines (limited evaluation, clinical observation and antibiotic therapy) in the management of asymptomatic infants born at term to mothers with suspected chorioamnionitis. The primary outcome of the study is the difference in the prevalence of sepsis-related symptoms between the two groups.