The Smallest Victims of Drug Resistance

Drug-resistant infections are a problem for everyone, but especially for newborns. They don’t have fully developed immune systems, and their bodies are less equipped to fight infections.

The risk is highest for infants born sick or prematurely.  Bloodborne infections – sepsis – are one major threat to newborns. Sepsis can move quickly, overpowering the body and causing severe illness and even death within hours. Doctors don’t have time to test babies to see what’s infecting them and have to treat them based on what Dr. Mike Sharland calls a best guess. These infections are often resistant to the drugs that are available to treat them, too. 

National and international guidelines can help doctors make difficult and life-altering decisions about treatment, but there’s not much guidance for health professionals treating newborns. That’s in part because there is so little research on which antibiotics work in newborns. Sharland, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at St George's University of London, is helping lead a group running the clinical trials needed to form the basis of guidelines.

In this episode, Dr. Sharland tells us about the terrifying growth of drug-resistant infections in newborns and the need for better antibiotics for these vulnerable babies.