Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC)
Neonatal sepsis is a common problem whose antibiotic treatment is usually recommended whilst admitted in hospital for at least 10-14 days. Families in Bangladesh however are reluctant to stay in hospital to complete the treatment for such a long time due to reasons such as financial difficulties and either or both are working parents. This leads to incomplete treatment of neonatal sepsis. We hypothesised that after initial improvement in neonatal
sepsis with injectable antibiotics whilst admitted, the same treatment could be safely continued in the outpatient setting to complete the full course. This intervention study was carried out in 66 newborns (0-28 days) recruited at the time of admission with suspected sepsis in the Department of Paediatrics, Centre for Woman and Child Health (CWCH), Dhaka. After investigations, treatment was initiated with injectable antibiotics according to clinical diagnosis and severity.