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Treatment of Neonatal Fungal Infections

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Hot Topics in Infection and Immunity in Children VI

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 659))

Abstract

Invasive candidiasis is a leading cause of infection-related morbidity and mortality in premature infants (Stoll et al. Kremer et al. Lee et al. Mittal et al. Friedman et al. Benjamin et al. Risk factors for candidiasis include extreme prematurity, post natal age, and center (Kaufman, ). Several studies have reported a 20% mortality rate, despite antifungal treatment (Stoll et al. Benjamin et al., ). Antifungal therapy failure is correlated with birthweight: for those with a birthweight 751–1000 g the failure rate is 14%, and for those with a birthweight of 400–750 g, it is 31% (Benjamin et al.). While much progress has been made in this area, definitive management guidelines for prophylaxis and treatment are limited (Benjamin et al., ). Routine prophylaxis is not recommended for neonates and use of either fluconazole or amphotericin B deoxycholate is considered 1st line therapy for treatment of invasive disease. However, new therapeutic options that may be safer and more efficacious are on the horizon

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Moran, C., Benjamin, D. (2010). Treatment of Neonatal Fungal Infections. In: Finn, A., Curtis, N., Pollard, A. (eds) Hot Topics in Infection and Immunity in Children VI. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 659. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0981-7_11

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