The Role of Clinical Signs in the Diagnosis of Late-onset Neonatal Sepsis and Formulation of Clinical Score.

ABSTRACT

Neonatal sepsis is the most important cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. The low birth weight and preterm babies are more vulnerable to it. It is diagnosed when generalized systemic features are associated with pure growth of bacteria from one or more sites. However, the signs of sepsis are nonspecific and the outcome of a neonate with sepsis depends on its early identification. So, this study is done to evaluate the role of various clinical signs in diagnosing late-onset sepsis, their statistical analysis and to develop a scoring system-based purely on clinical signs for early diagnosis and prompt institution of treatment.