@article {IsaacsF89, author = {D Isaacs}, editor = {,}, title = {A ten year, multicentre study of coagulase negative staphylococcal infections in Australasian neonatal units}, volume = {88}, number = {2}, pages = {F89--F93}, year = {2003}, doi = {10.1136/fn.88.2.F89}, publisher = {BMJ Publishing Group}, abstract = {Objective: To study late onset systemic infections with coagulase negative staphylococci.Methods: Prospective longitudinal study of coagulase negative staphylococcal infection in 18 Australasian neonatal nurseries.Results: From 1991 to 2000 inclusive, there were 1281 cases of coagulase negative staphylococcal (CoNS) sepsis, comprising 57.1\% of all late onset infections. The male/female ratio was 1.27:1 (p \< 0.05). The incidence of CoNS sepsis was 3.46 episodes per 1000 live births. Most infected babies (71\%) were 24{\textendash}29 weeks gestation at birth (mode 26 weeks). The first positive culture was day 7{\textendash}14 in 49\% of babies (mode 10 days). Five cases of meningitis were reported, an incidence of 0.4\% of all CoNS infections. Twenty nine babies (2.3\%) had concurrent necrotising enterocolitis and CoNS septicaemia. Four babies (0.3\%) died from CoNS infection, but CoNS infection possibly contributed to the death of an additional 20 babies (1.6\%). The mortality directly attributable to CoNS infection was significantly lower than that from late onset infections with Staphylococcus aureus (13.1\%; relative risk (RR) = 36.1 (95\% confidence interval (CI) 13.0 to 100.2) or with Gram negative bacilli (14.2\%; RR = 45.5 (95\% CI 16.8 to 123.3)).Conclusions: CoNS are currently responsible for most late onset neonatal infections. Most infected babies are \< 30 weeks gestation at birth, and usually present between 7 and 14 days of age. CoNS infections may be associated with necrotising enterocolitis, although causality is unproven. Neonatal CoNS infections are relatively benign: meningitis is rare and mortality low compared with infection from other organisms. Over-vigorous attempts to reduce the incidence of CoNS infections using prophylactic antibiotics are not advisable.}, issn = {1359-2998}, URL = {https://fn.bmj.com/content/88/2/F89}, eprint = {https://fn.bmj.com/content/88/2/F89.full.pdf}, journal = {Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition} }