Modeling sepsis in newborns: Technical achievement will speed the search for better diagnostics, treatments
Thursday, September 6, 2012 - 18:00
in Health & Medicine
Sepsis, or bacterial infection of the bloodstream, is a grave, hard-to-diagnose threat in premature newborns in the NICU. Even when it's detected and treated with antibiotics, its inflammatory effects can harm fragile babies' development. Now, researchers have modeled the effects of sepsis on the unique newborn immune system, using mice. They and others have begun using the model to identify diagnostic markers and better treatments.