Umbilical Cord Blood Culture in Diagnosis of Early Onset Neonatal Sepsis.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the use of umbilical cord blood culture (UCBC) as compared to neonatal blood culture (NBC) in the diagnosis of early onset neonatal sepsis (EONS). METHODS This hospital based prospective observational study was conducted in the Department of Pediatrics and Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at a tertiary care centre of North India from 2017 through 2018. A total of 80 newborns with presence of two or more risk factors for sepsis were included in the study. Blood culture samples were collected from the umbilical cord at delivery and from the neonate within 1 h of birth. RESULTS UCBC was positive in 17 (21.2%) neonates and NBC was positive in 15 (18.7%) neonates. Out of these positive cases, 10 (45.4%) neonates had similar bacteriological profile in both UCBC and NBC which included Burkholderia cepacia, Acinetobacter species, Enterobacter cloacae and Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus. UCBC had a sensitivity of 66.7%, a specificity of 89.2%, a positive predictive value 58.8% and a negative predictive value 92.1% for the diagnosis of EONS in high risk neonates, considering NBC as the gold standard test. CONCLUSIONS UCBC is a reliable alternative to NBC for early etiological diagnosis of EONS in high risk neonates. Additional blood sampling from the newborn is suggested if there is any clinical sign of sepsis.