Prevalencia de sepsis por hongos en neonatos hospitalizados en la Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos Neonatales en el Hospital Teodoro Maldonado Carbo en el período septiembre 2017 – septiembre 2019.

Abstract

Introduction: With technological and medical advances, the survival threshold for prematurity has reached gestational ages as early as 24 weeks, however it translates into long hospitalization times. Up to 5% of low birth weight infants will be infected with fungi, and 20% of those under 1000 grams will develop invasive fungal infections. Studies in Ecuador are scarce, for this reason the main objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of fungal sepsis in neonates hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Methods: An observational and retrospective study of prevalence was carried out. All infants with positive cultures for fungi hospitalized in the NICU of Hospital Teodoro Maldonado Carbo in the period September 2017 - September 2019 were included in the study. Results: Of the 558 patients with confirmed diagnosis of neonatal sepsis, 37 cases obtained a blood culture with isolation of a microbiological agent (6.6%). Of these, 70.2% corresponded to gram positive bacteria, 13.6% gram negative and 16.2% fungi. In addition, 31 patients with detection of fungi by KOH in urine (5.5%) were found. With the data obtained, 6 isolates by blood culture of fungi and 31 patients with positive KOH detection in urine, results in an annual prevalence of 3.3%. Conclusion: The prevalence of fungal sepsis is similar to that reported in the international literature, with very low and extreme low weight neonates being most affected. Mortality in these patients is high.