Spécificités des examens bactériologiques du nouveau-né suspect d'infection

The documentation of bacterial infections in newborn represents a challenge both for the clinician and the microbiologist in many respects. The difficulty of sampling in neonates increases the risk of contamination of the cultures. Some analyses as blood cultures have a particularly decreased sensitivity and cannot be repeated notably in preterm neonates before starting antibiotic treatment. Urine sampling, simple in older infant, requires an invasive gesture in newborn which is not always performed. Moreover the standards for the interpretation of theses analyses are not as well established that for the other patients. All these considerations, explain the difficulty to interpret of the laboratory examinations in newborn and consequently the pursued of probabilistic antibiotic treatments in doubt. Progresses on the bacteriological analysis are warranted in neonatology in terms of feasibility, sensibility, speed and interpretation to optimize the therapeutic management of newborn with suspected bacterial infection.