Neonatal Medicine News

Despite confirmed attempts to exclusively breast-feed their children, mothers who experience food insecurity are less likely to sustain this practice by 4 months.

Extremely preterm infants who are treated with diuretics for respiratory conditions are more likely to require more invasive respiratory support every day after the treatment began, according to findings published in The Journal of Pediatrics.

In the United States, more than 7,000 infants born full term experience mortality annually, with sudden unexpected infant death, congenital malformations and perinatal conditions contributing to most of these deaths.

Neurologic and ocular birth defects occur in 7% of offspring of mothers located in French territories of the Americas who have lab-confirmed Zika virus infection, according to research published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Infants treated with a high dose of oral ibuprofen were more likely to have a hemodynamically significant patent ductus arteriosus closure compared with those treated with standard doses of IV indomethacin or IV ibuprofen, according to a systematic review and analysis published in JAMA.

Zika virus has largely disappeared from the Americas. No additional countries have reported active local transmission of Zika since late 2016, according to the Pan American Health Organization. Provisional data from the CDC show that in 2017, 424 cases of symptomatic Zika virus disease cases were reported in the United States, and 644 cases — excluding congenital disease — were reported in its territories. This year, health officials have recorded only one case of Zika virus disease so far in the U.S., reported in a traveler returning from an affected area.

Infectious Diseases in Children asked Editorial Board member H. Cody Meissner, MD, professor of pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine and director of pediatric infectious disease at Tufts University, to discuss obstacles in preventing the spread of Zika virus, and if he believes there will be an effective Zika vaccination implemented in the near future.H. Cody Meissner

Infant girls fed soy formula from birth had a higher vaginal cell maturation index and lower uterine volume involution over the first 9 months of infancy vs. infant girls fed cow’s milk formula during the same period, according to findings from an observational study.

Pregnant women who received tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and other prevention measures did not experience a significantly lower rate of transmission of hepatitis B compared to pregnant women who received placebo, according to findings recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Infants who experience bronchiolitis during respiratory syncytial virus season within their first 6 months of life are more likely to have otitis media, pneumonia and use antibiotics regardless of their mother’s asthma status, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology in Orlando.