Sepsis due to Escherichia coli in neonates with galactosemia.

Galactosemia, an inborn error of galactose metabolism, is characterized by jaundice, weight loss, lethargy and vomiting in the neonate and by cataracts, mental retardation and cirrhosis in later infancy or early childhood.1 However, the high frequency of neonatal death from sepsis among infants with galactosemia has not been widely recognized, though it has been mentioned in several reports.2 3 4 5 As a result of routine newborn screening for galactosemia, conducted in Massachusetts for approximately 12 years (from 1964 to 1965 and 1966 to the present), eight infants with "classic" galactosemia due to galactose-1-phosphate uridyl transferase (transferase) deficiency have been identified among over . . .