Diagnosis of Neonatal Sepsis by Blood Culture and Thrombocytopenia

Dr. Bimal Chauhan; Dr. Shivani R. Mehta; Dr.Sanjay Rathod; Dr. Jayshree Pethani; Dr.Parul D. Shah

Volume : III, Issue : VI, June - 2014

Diagnosis of Neonatal Sepsis by Blood Culture and Thrombocytopenia

Dr. Bimal Chauhan, Dr. Shivani R. Mehta, Dr. Sanjay Rathod, Dr. Jayshree Pethani, Dr. Parul D. Shah

Abstract :

Introduction: The early diagnosis for neonatal sepsis is important because the infection may present a very serious threat to the baby. In situations in which the clinical picture leaves the physician in doubt about the infection status that a diagnostic test is likely to be most useful. The presence of thrombocytopenia is seen frequently in early sepsis with or without evidence of overt DIC. Aims & objective: To compare the results of blood culture and platelet count for diagnosis of neonatal sepsis. Material & methods: This study was conducted on 170 neonates admitted in NICU with clinical diagnosis of septicemia. We have taken 100 age and weight matched neonates as control group. Blood from the patient was collected for culture and complet blood count. Blood culture and platelet count of the patients were compared. Results: Thrombocytopenia was seen in 85.88% cases where as bacterial culture was positive in only 45.29% cases. Further it was noted that, in Gram negative septicemia, thrombocytopenia was more severe as compared to gram positive septicemia. Conclusion: It is concluded that thrombocytopenia is early predictor of septicemia but other causes of neonatal thrombocytopenia should be ruled out.