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NOS News••Amended
The treatment of newborn babies with a bacterial infection is being drastically adjusted following a study by Erasmus MC and Franciscus Gasthuis & Vlietland. If the antibiotic treatment is successful, the baby can go home after a few days. The parents are given an antibiotic drink for their child.
Currently, medical protocols dictate that babies receive a seven-day course of antibiotics through an IV in the event of an infection in the hospital. Since it is difficult to pierce a blood vessel directly in newborns, it can be an unpleasant experience. The solution is to administer the drug in an antibiotic drink.
The research, published today in the scientific journal The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, shows that this alternative method is safe and effective. The new method is less physically taxing for the child and less taxing mentally for the new parents.
‘Missed five times’
“Then you see that they – no matter how carefully – prick your daughter’s arms at least five times and that it does not work,” says Simon Kohne, whose daughter Fay contracted an infection. “In the end she got an IV in her ankle. But then you have to change her and the IV shoots out again.”
Also the feeling that you ‘have to leave’ your baby weighed on the minds of Simon and his wife Tyrza. Because the baby has to stay in the hospital during the course of antibiotics.
But that will change in the near future. The research by doctor-researcher Fleur Keij, neonatologist René Kornelisse and pediatrician Gerdien Tramper has shown that the sick babies can go home after only three days.
Antibiotics can also be taken at home
The baby has to stay in the hospital for the first few days to see if the antibiotics are effective. After two days, the infusion treatment is switched to an antibiotic drink. The parents learn how to give the drink themselves and can then go home with their child.
“It became clear during our research that parents do this safely and in a good way,” says Keij, who will be doing his PhD on this research.
What is special about the research is that, as far as we know, this alternative treatment was tested on a large scale on babies for the first time in the western world. 510 babies in seventeen Dutch hospitals were followed. They were divided into two groups: one that received the antibiotic through an IV, while the other group was given a drink after two days of infusion.
Erasmus MC
“That’s why we can now for the first time evidence-based make statements about the safety and effectiveness of this new method,” says Keij. “Apart from the fact that we reduce the impact on baby and parents, this treatment also provides significant cost savings. A recording day of mother and child easily costs 1300 euros.”
Other hospitals are also showing interest. “We are currently making plans to roll out the new treatment in all hospitals in the Netherlands.”
Additional financing
There is a lot to consider. Because the parents take over part of the treatment, the pediatrician keeps a finger on the pulse. “At the same time, GPs and midwives must be well informed. So we will have to train these healthcare providers,” says Keij.
Simon and Tyrza Kohne’s Baby Fay was one of the children who took part in the study. “Unfortunately for her and us, she was in the control group that was still being treated the old-fashioned way,” Kohne says. “But we are happy and proud that we have been able to contribute to this. We feel that we have helped parents and babies in the future.”