Neonatal Medicine News

Globally, reported cases of neonatal tetanus decreased by 90% from 2000 to 2018 and neonatal deaths from the bacterial infection fell 85%, according to a report published recently in MMWR, which summarized progress toward eliminating maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT).

Prenatal affective symptoms and stress may have a direct impact on children’s mental health, according to study findings published in Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Reported cases of invasive Cronobacter infection rose significantly in recent years, with opened containers of contaminated powdered infant formula most commonly identified as the source of the infections, researchers reported recently in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Although substance use is less prevalent among pregnant women than nonpregnant women, use during pregnancy has significant adverse effects on maternal, as well as fetal, neonatal and childhood health outcomes, according to a presenter at the American Psychiatric Association Spring Highlights Meeting.

Social deprivation and environmental pollutant exposure are potential risk factors for live-born congenital heart disease in California, indicating that harmful toxins may be prevalent in at-risk communities, researchers reported.

Hospitals and accredited birth centers remain the safest place to give birth during the COVID-19 pandemic, the AAP said. For women who still plan to have a baby at home, the AAP updated its safety recommendations for in-home births in a new policy statement, while continuing to recommend against the practice due to safety concerns.

In a letter, AAP President Sara H. Goza, MD, FAAP, asked HHS for “immediate, direct financial relief payments” for pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists “to keep practices open, pay staff, and procure needed supplies.”

Simplifying the Finnegan Neonatal Abstinence Scoring Tool, or FNAST, could improve its use in making treatment decisions for neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS, study findings showed.

Changes to the pediatric drug labels for doxycycline, clindamycin and caffeine citrate mean they now include better information for health care providers on recommended usage and dosage, the NIH said.

A neonate born to a mother infected with SARS-CoV-2 at a hospital in Wuhan, China, had elevated levels of immunoglobuin M, or IgM, and immunoglobulin G, or IgG, antibodies and abnormal cytokine test results 2 hours after birth, suggesting that the newborn was infected in utero, researchers reported in JAMA.