Publication
Title
Management of the neonate at risk for early-onset Group B streptococcal disease (GBS EOD): new paediatric guidelines in Belgium
Author
Abstract
Despite group B streptococcal (GBS) screening in late pregnancy and intrapartum antimicrobial prophylaxis, early-onset sepsis in neonates remains a common source of neonatal morbidity and mortality especially in preterm neonates. The identification of neonates with early-onset sepsis is usually based on perinatal risk factors. Clinical signs are aspecific and laboratory tests are not sensitive. Therefore, many clinicians will overtreat at-risk infants. Inappropriate treatment with antibiotics increases the risk for late-onset sepsis, necrotizing enterocolitis, mortality, and prolongs hospitalisation and costs. In 2003, the Belgian Health Council published guidelines for the prevention of perinatal GBS infections. This report presents the Belgian paediatric management guidelines, which have been endorsed by the Belgian and Flemish societies of neonatology and paediatrics. The most imported changes in the 2014 guidelines are the following: recommendations for a lumbar puncture; clarification of normal spinal fluid parameters and blood neutrophil indices corrected for gestation age; specific timing for diagnostic testing after birth; no indication for diagnostic testing in asymptomatic newborns unless additional risk factors; a revised algorithm for management of neonates according to maternal and neonatal risk factors; and premature infants described as those below 35 weeks instead of 37 weeks. The guidelines were made on the basis of the best evidence and on expert opinion when inadequate evidence exists.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Acta clinica Belgica / Belgian Society of Internal Medicine [Ghent]; Royal Belgian Society of Laboratory Medicine. - Gent, 1997, currens
Publication
Gent : 2014
ISSN
1784-3286 [print]
2295-3337 [online]
DOI
10.1179/2295333714Y.0000000054
Volume/pages
69 :5 (2014) , p. 313-319
ISI
000345841600001
Pubmed ID
25056493
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 13.01.2015
Last edited 09.10.2023
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