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Infections and Apparent Life-Threatening Events
Robin L. Altman*,
Karl I. Li, MD,
and
Donald A. Brand, PhD
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Robin_Altman{at}nymc.edu.
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Abstract |
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The need for routine sepsis evaluation in patients who have experienced an apparent life-threatening event but lack signs of infection remains controversial. To assess their risk of a serious occult bacterial infection, records were reviewed of 95 infants in whom infections were discovered during their inpatient evaluation after an apparent life-threatening event. Noted for each patient was the presence of any suggestive findings that would have prompted a physician to consider the given type of infection in the differential diagnosis. Thirty patients had bacterial infections; all but 5 had suggestive findings. The exceptions included 1 patient with pneumonia and 4 with urinary tract infections. None of the remaining 25 patients had occult bacterial infections. In patients with an apparent life-threatening event who appear well and lack signs suggestive of a serious bacterial infection, it may be possible to forego routine sepsis evaluation beyond a chest radiograph and urine culture without risking a serious missed diagnosis.
First published on December 5, 2007, doi:10.1177/0009922807310934
Clinical Pediatrics 2008;47:372.
A more recent version of this article appeared on May 1, 2008
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