Early Diagnosis of Neonatal Sepsis Caused by Yeast Infection

Early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis is lifesaving to the neonates. The present study was conducted to clarify the rate of incidence of neonatal early and late onset sepsis caused by yeast infection. Conventional methods, Buffy coat examination and molecular (PCR) methods were adopted and compared for the isolation of etiologic agents. In addition, other tests were also carried out to complete our data. One hundred and twenty neonates suspected of having sepsis were identified. One hundred and ten cases were found positive using blood cultures and PCR, and 20 neonates were negative. Torch antibodies were detected for the negative cases confirming viral septicemia. The remaining 100 positive cases were classified as bacterial (88%) and yeast infections (12%). Candida albicans was isolated from 11 cases (91.7%) while Debaryomyces hansenii was isolated from one case only, representing 8.3% of the positive yeast isolates. The analysis of neonatal cases showed that there is a perfect correlation between molecular and microbiological data. PCR for the 12 cases having yeast infection gave positive results at 615 bp, and that for C. albicans was observed at 156 bp. In conclusion PCR is the best and rapid method for early detection of neonatal yeast infection.