The aim of the project is to study neonatal immune dysfunction associated to the risk of newborn sepsis in a malaria endemic area in Benin.
The fetal immunological responses maturate gradually during the last 3 months of pregnancy. To respond to pathogens, newborns depend essentially on their innate immune system. Premature babies have a significant impairment of innate and immune regulatory functions, thus promoting neonatal sepsis. In addition, chronic infections during pregnancy, including those of parasitic origin, fetal immunity. In utero exposure to P. falciparum antigens impacts particularly the newborn immune development and is a risk factor predisposing to malaria and also to other infections during the first year of life. The major objectives are to assess: * The relevance of a host biomarker driven diagnostic of sepsis in newborns, * The relevance of immune markers as indicators of sepsis incidence, secondary infections occurrence, and mortality * The role of novel diagnostic techniques (FilmArray panels) as part of the microbiological diagnostic, * The immunological profile of the infants in the 3 first months of life. The targeted population is newborns with a high risk to develop sepsis recruited at delivery compared to a control infant population with a low infection risk.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
585
No intervention as it is an observational study
Evaluate Procalcitonin (PCT) for early onset neonatal sepsis diagnostic
To measure in cord blood the association and performance of PCT and the early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis for infants at risk to develop infection
Time frame: At birth
Evaluate Procalcitonin (PCT) for late onset neonatal sepsis diagnostic
To measure in peripheral blood the association and performance of PCT and the diagnosis of late onset neonatal sepsis for infants at risk to develop infection
Time frame: At one week after birth
To draw Procalcitonin (PCT) expression profile during 12 weeks after birth
To measure PCT concentration during 12 weeks (sampling at birth, week 1, week 4, week 8 and week 12) and explore the relevance of host biomarker-driven antibiotherapy in a low-income country
Time frame: Twelve weeks follow-up after birth
Evaluate 2 host biomarkers mRNA expression (CD74 and CX3CR1) to prognostic neonatal sepsis
To measure CD74 and CX3CR1 mRNA expression in order to evaluate their performance on the early prognostic of neonatal sepsis for infants at risk to develop infections (occurrence of secondary infections and mortality rate)
Time frame: Twelve weeks follow-up after birth
FilmArray panels for early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis
To test commercial FilmArray panels in order to evaluate the role of novel diagnostic techniques as part of the diagnostic algorithm on the early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis over a period of 12 weeks for infants at risk to develop infection
Time frame: Twelve weeks follow-up after birth
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