[The significance of various hematological parameters for the early diagnosis of bacterial infections in premature and full-term neonates. 2. The blood picture in premature and full-term neonates with suspicion of existing infection or with confirmed infection].

We compared the normal values of white blood counts in premature infants and full-term neonates, as described in part one of this paper, with blood counts of 31 infants with suspected infections and 81 infants with sepsis and/or meningitis. The half of these infected infants had leucocyte and neutrophil counts beyond the reference limits. The values tended to leucopenia in diseases beginning within the first five days of life and to leucocytosis later on. More than 80% of the patients had a left shift. One is able to predict a sepsis with a probability of 16.3%, according to our experiences, with leucocyte counts below 5 or above 20 Gpt/l. In the case of left shift the probability is about 25%. Combining these parameters the predictive value is even mounting to 56.1%. We were able to make a prognosis too referring to the blood count of infants with sepsis.