Background: Bacterial gastroenteritis (BGE) is common in children worldwide but is considered rare in the first week of life. Hence, little is known about the management of BGE in this age period.
Objectives: To study the incidence, the clinical and the epidemiological features and the outcome of BGE in the newborn period.
Method: A retrospective study of all BGE cases in newborns diagnosed between January 2011 to September 2018 in a tertiary center in Israel. Data was extracted from the clinical and laboratory databases and completed by a phone questionnaire.
Results: Ten cases of BGE were identified, all but one among full-term infants. Accordingly, the annual incidence was 0.108 per 1,000 live-births, approximately half of the local incidence of Streptococcus agalactiae infections. The causative pathogen was Campylobacter in six patients, and Salmonella or Shigella sonnei in two patients, each. All participants were delivered vaginally and six of the mothers suffered from diarrhea. Bloody stool was the presenting symptom in 9/10 newborn and the mean age of disease onset was 2 days of life. Antibiotics were given to 5 patients, but the agents chosen were inappropriate in 2 cases. Only one patient with S. sonnei required respiratory support. All patients had full recovery.
Conclusions: The incidence of BGE in newborns is not low and therefore should be suspected in every newborn with gastrointestinal symptoms. Although the clinical course is mostly benign, antimicrobials active against Salmonella or Shigella should be given to the ill-looking newborn with suspected BGE.
