Cryptococcus neoformans septicemia in an immunocompetent neonate: first case report in Thailand.

Neonatal infection due to Cryptococcus neoformans is extremely rare. We report a case of a 21-day-old neonate diagnosed with cryptococcal septicemia who was successfully treated with amphotericin B. He was born to a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seronegative mother. This report alerts general pediatricians and neonatologists to consider Cryptococcus neoformans infection as a possible cause of sepsis in newborn infants.

High-risk neonatal hearing screening program using automated screening device performed by trained nursing personnel at Siriraj Hospital: yield and feasibility.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence and significant risk factors for pathologic hearing screening test results in high-risk neonates and the feasibility of implementing hearing screening program using automated otoacoustic emission (OAE)/ auditory brain stem response (ABR) device performed by trained nursing staffs. STUDY DESIGN: Single-center prospective, descriptive study. MATERIAL AND METHOD: All neonates admitted to the Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, who met the high-risk criteria according to Joint Committee of Infant Hearing 1994, American Academy of Pediatrics, were screened with one-step protocol using an automated OAE/ABR device (AccuScreen, GN Otometrics, Denmark). Infants who failed 2 consecutive OAE tests were reconfirmed by ABR prior to discharge. Descriptive analysis was used for the prevalence of pathologic hearing test results, age at screening, duration of procedure, number of risk factors per infant. Univariate analysis using Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression analysis were used for identification of significant risk factors. RESULTS: Five hundred and seven infants were identified to be at-risk in an 18-month study period. The prevalence of pathologic hearing screening test was 6.7% with unilateral and bilateral pathologic results in 13 and 21 infants (2.6% and 4.1%). Only craniofacial anomalies and mechanical ventilation > 5 days were shown to be independent significant risk factors (42-fold and 4-fold increased risk). Median age at screening test performed was 19 days (range 1-149 days) and almost all infants (97.3%) were screened within 3-month postnatal age. The mean time for hearing screening procedure was 10.7 +/- 8.0 minutes (range 2-60 minutes), 98.1% of procedure was accomplished within 30 minutes. CONCLUSION: Hearing screening using automated OAE/ABR devices in high-risk neonates revealed approximately 7% of pathologic results with almost two-thirds having bilateral affected. The significant independent risk factors in this study population were craniofacial anomalies and mechnical ventilation > 5 days. The protocol of having trained nursing staffs to perform the screening yielded good results, i.e., the coverage of screened infants within 3 months of age (97%), feasible duration of procedure.

Inhaled nitric oxide therapy in premature infants with mild to moderate respiratory distress syndrome.

Inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) therapy has been demonstrated to acutely improve oxygenation in preterm infants with severe pulmonary disease. Administration of iNO to the premature infants with less severe pulmonary illness has not yet been studied extensively. Therefore, the authors performed a pilot study enrolling thirty-four premature infants with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) within 72 hours of age, birth weight between 500-2,000 g, whose oxygenation indexes exceeded our birthweight-specific criteria. Infants were randomly assigned to either treatment with (iNO group; n = 16) or without (control group; n = 18) iNO. Inhaled NO was started at 20 ppm and weaned to 5 ppm over 24-48 hours. Routine cranial ultrasonography was performed and the occurrence of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) was interpreted by an attending pediatric radiologist unaware of the treatment group assignment. The study showed that the two groups were of similar birth weight (mean+/-SEM): control 901+/-73 g vs iNO 874+/-70 g; and gestational age: control 27.2+/-0.5 wk vs iNO 26.8+/-0.5 wk. Other baseline parameters between the two groups were also similar. The mean ages of the infants at the time of entry were 11.7+/-2.2 and 8.3+/-0.9 hours in the controls and iNO group. The entry oxygenation index (OI) did not differ between the two groups: control 11.9+/-2.2 vs iNO 10.8+/-1.50. After 30 minutes of iNO therapy, there was a 50 per cent increase in partial pressure of oxygen tension (PaO2) and 15 per cent reduction in OI, (p = 0.02 and p = 0.04 vs baseline, respectively). No statistical difference in the incidence of significant IVH (Grade III and IV) was detected: control 27.8 per cent; iNO 25.0 per cent. The incidence of other acute complications as well as early neonatal death, were comparable between the groups. The mean methemoglobin concentration was 1.2+/-0.5 per cent. In conclusion, these preliminary data suggest that iNO, as used in this protocol, acutely improves oxygenation without increasing significant IVH in premature infants with mild to moderate RDS. These important findings serve to justify further study of the efficacy of iNO on long term pulmonary outcome and mortality in this group of infants.