Neonatal Medicine News

Researchers completed the first ever human challenge trial for Zika virus, deliberately infecting volunteers to identify strains of the virus that can be safely used to test vaccines against the mosquito-borne pathogen.

WASHINGTON — Training primary care physicians to evaluate children for autism could improve diagnosis, a study presented at the AAP National Conference & Exhibition found.

PCR testing of dried blood spots demonstrated a high sensitivity to identify infants with congenital cytomegalovirus in a study conducted in Minnesota, the first state to mandate congenital CMV testing, researchers reported at IDWeek.

Maternal pertussis vaccination resulted in a 66% decrease in pertussis among infants through age 6 months and remained protective for up to 8 months, with no evidence it blunted response to further vaccination, an Australian study found.

An NIH-funded study found a potential link between the combination of prenatal COVID-19 and maternal stress and an increased risk for impaired attention span in infants, according to findings reported in Pediatric Research.

An app that correctly identified most cases of autism in children could help reduce disparities in early detection of the condition, according to the results of an NIH-funded study published in Nature Medicine.

A cardiopulmonary MRI conducted during unsedated sleep aided in early detection of pulmonary vascular disease in preterm infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia, according to results published in European Respiratory Journal.

The FDA has issued a safety alert warning patients and health care providers of a “risk of invasive, potentially fatal disease” linked to probiotic use among preterm infants in hospital settings.

Infant hospitalization for congenital syphilis increased 10-fold from 2016 to 2022 in Mississippi, from 10 cases per year to 110 cases per year, according to an analysis of hospital discharge data.

Expanding newborn screening to identify genes associated with an increased risk for neurodevelopmental disorders could exacerbate disparities, among other drawbacks, experts wrote in Pediatrics.