PREMATURE and sick babies can die from bacterial infections that doctors have
missed. But a new way of analysing a baby’s heartbeat may spot these infections
early enough to save lives.
Bacteria that take advantage of a baby’s immature immune system can trigger
overwhelming infections called “sepsis”. Very underweight babies are twice as
likely to die if they have sepsis. Yet cases are often missed because the
symptoms can be confusing.
Neonatologist Pamela Griffin and cardiologist Randall Moorman from the
University of Virginia in Charlottesville examined 89 infants at high risk of
sepsis. They found two properties of a baby’s…
