CLINICAL SUSPICION OF EARLY OR LATE NEONATAL SEPSIS WITH THE USE OF PCR WITH UNIVERSAL PRIMER

Sepsis is one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in newborns, especially in very low birth weight and extremely low birth weight infants. The result of blood culture is time consuming and low sensitivity. The technique of molecular biology with universal primer may be important in the early investigation of bacterial DNA in cases of maternal risk factors and of newborns with clinical suspicion of infection. Blood samples from neonates hospitalized in a neonatal intensive care unit with suspected early neonatal sepsis (EOS) or late sepsis (LOS) were collected and analyzed by the PCR method with universal primer. In 14 blood cultures analyzed from the blood samples of the newborns with suspected EOS, only one was positive and in the LOS group, 18 of the 48 blood cultures performed were positive. By the rtPCR technique (universal primer), the bacterial DNA was found in 9 (42.9%) of the 21 samples from the EOS group, and in the LOS group, from the 49 samples, 38 (77.6%) had bacterial DNA. Polymerase chain reaction using universal primer, may not only collaborate on early treatment, but may also offer a better prognosis of the newborn with suspected sepsis.