The study found that the number of newborns exposed to antibiotics in Swedish neonatal units is higher than it should be, given the low prevalence of early-onset sepsis.
Delayed care, resource constraints, and emergency department crowding by COVID-19 patients likely contributed to the worse outcomes, the authors say.
Danish research and development company GlyProVac will receive $467,000 to develop a maternal vaccine that targets a leading cause of neonatal sepsis.
New data from a study in low- and middle-income countries shows a dose of azithromycin before planned vaginal delivery saves more than $32,000 per 100,000 pregnancies.
Experts say the updated definition and new scoring system is better at identifying children with sepsis and has the potential to improve care and outcomes.
The maternal vaccine candidate will target sepsis caused by Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae.
The National Early Warning Score accurately predicted 72.2% of sepsis cases.
The incidence of neonatal sepsis or death was 2.0% in the azithromycin group and 1.9% in the placebo group.
The findings of a multi-country randomized trial suggest the inexpensive antibiotic could be a low-cost strategy to reduce maternal mortality.
A large international study found antibiotic use in newborns was disproportinate compared with the burden of early-onset sepsis.