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» Go to news mainMedia opportunity: Scientists develop tool to predict sepsis in healthy newborns, opening the door to early, life‑saving treatment for critically ill babies
A molecular signature in newborns can predict life-threatening responses to infections before symptoms even start to appear, according to a new study by researchers at Dalhousie University, the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University.
The report, also involving the Medical Research Council (MRCG) Unit The Gambia, has the potential to help health-care workers diagnose babies with this condition -- called sepsis – earlier, especially in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where the illness is of particular concern. The research, published today in eBiomedicine, is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
The body's irregular response to a severe infection that occurs within the first 28 days of life causes neonatal sepsis. Globally, sepsis affects around 1.3 million babies annually and those rates are higher in LMICs. It causes an estimated 200,000 deaths worldwide every year. In Canada, the risk is lower at about one in 200 live births, but higher in prematurely born babies.
Sepsis can have lifelong effects because it can lead to developmental delays in children, imposing cognitive deficits and long-term health issues. Symptoms can look like many other illnesses and sepsis tests can take several days. By recognizing it as early as possible – even before clinical signs and symptoms develop – doctors can treat infants promptly and head off these harms.
Dr. Tobias Kollmann, a clinician-scientist in Dalhousie's Department of Microbiology and Immunology as well as Pediatric Infectious Diseases, is co-senior author of the report and is available to discuss the findings, which involved the use of machine-learning to map the expression of genes active at birth in search of biological markers that could predict sepsis.
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Media contact:
Alison Auld
Senior Research Reporter
Dalhousie University
Cell: 902-220-0491
Email: Alison.auld@dal.ca
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