Prevalence of Bloodstream Pathogens Is Higher in Neonatal Encephalopathy Cases vs. Controls Using a Novel Panel of Real-Time PCR Assays

Abstract

This real-time PCR panel detected more bacteremia than culture alone and provides a novel tool for detection of neonatal bloodstream pathogens that may be applied across a range of clinical situations and settings. Significantly more encephalopathic infants than controls had pathogenic bacterial species detected suggesting that infection may be an important risk factor for NE in this setting.