pediatrics
Neonatal Pneumonia
Introduction
Neonatal pneumonia is lung infection in a neonate. Onset may be within hours of birth and part of a generalized sepsis syndrome or after 7 days and confined to the lungs. Signs may be limited to respiratory distress or progress to shock and death. Diagnosis is by clinical and laboratory evaluation for sepsis. Treatment is initial broad-spectrum antibiotics changed to organism-specific drugs as soon as possible. (See also Overview of Pneumonia in adults and Pneumonia is the most common invasive bacterial infection after primary sepsis. Early-onset pneumonia is part of generalized sepsis that first manifests at or within hours of birth ( see Neonatal Sepsis ). Late-onset pneumonia usually occurs after 7 days of age, most commonly in neonatal intensive care units among infants who require prolonged endotracheal intubation because of lung disease (called ventilator-associated pneumonia). 