Early and Late Onset Sepsis in Surinamese Newborns

Early and Late Onset Sepsis in Surinamese Newborns

Early Onset Sepsis (EOS) remains a diagnostic challenge due to clinically non-specific symptoms, poor usability of biomarkers and low incidence of positive blood cultures. For these reasons there is significant overtreatment with antibiotics in the first 72 hours of life. Since 2015 researchers of P.R.E.S. have been working on determining incidence and impact of EOS in Suriname and developing novel methods to identify or exclude newborns with EOS and to guide decision-making on start and duration of antibiotic treatment. Late Onset Sepsis (LOS) is an increasing challenge with expanding critical care for newborns in Suriname. Especially premature newborns are susceptible to infection during their stay on the NICU. In some cases, this involves outbreaks implying a need for infection prevention measures. Together with microbiologists of the Academic Hospital Paramaribo, many improvements have been made to prevent, track, and treat infections amongst Suriname’s most vulnerable population. 

Many publications and two PhD theses on these subjects can be found in our publications section. This project was originally funded by the Thrasher Research Fund and Tergooi Hospitals, The Netherlands, and with donations from the EOSur project. Currently monitoring of Early and Late Onset Sepsis is part of the larger NICU performance project.