Early-onset neonatal sepsis is currently a major cause of morbidity and
mortality in neonatal period and its rapid diagnosis can help to establish an effective
antibiotic treatment. The suspicion diagnosis of neonatal sepsis is based on a number of
risk factors and non-specific clinical and laboratory parameters, therefore in many
cases it is difficult to assess when it is the proper period to initiate antibiotic treatment.
Confirmatory diagnosis depends on the results of blood cultures in the neonatal period,
hence the importance of a biochemical marker that allows predicting the likelihood
infection, as well as supporting the diagnosis of sepsis. Therefore identifying tools for
rapid detection of neonatal sepsis is an objective of great importance in perinatal
medicine, as an early and accurate diagnosis leads to an appropriate treatment thus
potentially improving the final prognosis of these patients. The objective of this work is
to study different markers of early neonatal sepsis, biochemical and haematological,
particularly in cord blood; and establish its potential clinical usefulness. New
techniques of molecular biology in cord blood are being studied in different types of
samples, both blood and neonatal cord blood.
Keywords: C-Protein Reactive (CRP), Cord blood, Early-onset neonatal sepsis
(EONS), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Procalcitonin (PCT), Septifast.
