ABSTRACT
To identify serious bacterial infections among infants between 0 - 90 days of age. Also to test the validity of applying clinical evaluation and commonly used laboratory tests for the diagnosis of serious bacterial infections. Lastly to develop guidelines for the future care of febrile children from birth to 3 months of age. A total of 145 neonates and young infants 0 - 3 months of age with a rectal temperature 38C ° were enrolled in a prospective study at King Hussein Medical Center and two affiliated hospitals: [Prince Rashid Ben AI-Hassan and Prince Hashim Ben Al Hussein] during a 6 - month period to evaluate the validity of applying clinical and laboratory criteria for detection of serious bacterial infections [SBls]. Serious bacterial infections [SBls] were encountered in 54 patients. According to site, single infection or combination of infections were encountered in the 145 patients and were distributed as follow: septicemia in 31 patients 21.37%, urinary tract infection in 21 patients 14.48%, gastroenteritis in 38 patients 26.20%, soft tissue and joint infections in 10 patients 6.70%, meningitis in 12 patients 8.2%, and chest infection in 18 patients 12.4%. Application of clinical and laboratory criteria for detection of serious bacterial infection demonstrated that low risk criteria do identify a subset of febrile infants at a substantially lower risk for all SBls. However, the criteria do not reduce the risk to zero p=1.37% [using Fishers Exact Test]. Until we have more data, hospitalization and empirical antibiotic treatment of very young infants with fever is recommended because meticulous follow -up is often unfeasible