Neonatal and Perinatal Nursing

Neonatal Infectious Diseases & Antibiotics

Neonatal infections are infections of the newborn during the neonatal period or first four weeks after birth. Neonatal infections may be decline by trans-placental transfer in utero, in the birth canal during perinatal, or by other means after birth. Some infections captured in the neonatal period do not become possible until much later such as HIV, hepatitis B and malaria.

There is a higher risk of infection with pre-term or low birth weight neonates. Respiratory tract infections contracted by pre-term neonates may continue into childhood or possibly adulthood with long-term effects that limit one's ability to enlist in normal physical activities, decreasing one's quality of life and increasing health care costs. In some case, neonatal respiratory tract infections may increase one's awareness to future respiratory infections and inflammatory responses related to lung disease