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Letters
Antibiotics for early onset neonatal infection
  1. Shona Elizabeth Johnston1,
  2. Mark Anthony2
  1. 1Paediatric Department, Oxford Children's Hospital, Oxford, UK
  2. 2Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Shona Elizabeth Johnston, Paediatric Department, Oxford Children's Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK; shona_coutts{at}hotmail.com

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The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance, Antibiotics for early-onset neonatal infection,1 published in August 2012, recommends stopping antibiotics at 36 h in term babies who have had a ‘septic screen’, provided there is no growth of a pathogen from blood cultures, low inflammatory markers including two C reactive proteins, and the baby is clinically well. This has been our practice since October 2010. We have audited 1 year of data (October 2010–September 2011) and consider it safe practice. The results are as follows: In this year, 952 blood cultures were taken from babies within our catchment area; 291 …

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Footnotes

  • Contributors MA wrote and implemented the antibiotic guideline, conceived the audit and reviewed and edited the letter. SJ collected and analysed the data and drafted the letter.

  • Competing interests None.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.