Neonatal sepsis – many blood samples, few positive cultures: implications for improving antibiotic prescribing

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is finalising the clinical practice guideline on antibiotics use for early-onset neonatal infection.1 The draft guideline compliments the national Antibiotic Stewardship Programme– Start Smart – then Focus2 by promoting stopping antibiotics at 36 h in infants without signs of infection and negative blood culture results, and switching from the recommended empiric broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment to a narrower-spectrum antibiotic regimen in consultation with microbiologists in those patients with infection. Prudent antibiotic prescribing …