Abstract

Dr. Smruti Mohanty and Dr. Laxmi Kant Mohanty

ABSTRACT

Clinically suspected 330 cases of Bacteraemia in neonates, infants & children admitted as inpatients at JLN Hospital and Research Centre, Bhilai & 25 healthy children as control were included in the present study. The cases were investigated by blood culture & 5 rapid tests Viz total leucocyte count (TLC), is the main defense against invading micro-organisms, which migrate to sites of inflammation, ingesting & killing foreign material or bacteria, immature to total neutrophil ( I:T) ratio, which is bacteria fighting cells, C – reactive protein (CRP), ESR & Grams smears of Buffy coat for organisms. Blood cultures were positive in 141 (42.7%) of 330 cases & negative organisms was 55.3% as against 44.6% of Gram positive bacteria. The most common isolates were Staph epidermides (25.5%) and Staph aureus (17.0%) with overall staphylococcal prevalence of 42.5% followed by gram negative bacteria, S.Typhi (14.8%) E.coli & Ps. auroginosa each 10.6%.The rapid tests were evaluated in blood culture positive & negative cases CRP yielded maximum sensitivity of 80.5%, Specificity of 77.7% & positive predictive accuracy of 73.0% combination of 2 tests did not reveal any significant advantage over single CRP test.