OBJECTIVE: To determine the most frequent bacteria causing infection in hospitalized newborns, and their antimicrobial sensitivity. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Review of the clinical files of Neonatology Division, Children’s Health Institute (Lima, Peru) and identification of the positive cultures and antibiograms from June 1999 until May 2002. RESULTS: During this three year period there were 94 patients with confirmed sepsis from whom 161 samples were obtained (blood, urine, IV catheters, and others ). The most frequently isolated bacteria were: Staphylococcus epidermidis (38,3%), Staphylococcus aureus (12%), Klebsiella sp (10%), Alcaligenes fecalis (4,6%), Acinetobacter sp (4%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (4%). S. epidermidis showed 100% sensitivity to vancomycin, 90% to cefotaxime, 50% to amikacin and ampicillin and 37% to oxacillin. Klebsiella showed 100% sensitivity to ciprofloxacin and...

Objective: To identify complaints characteristics of external users in a national pediatric reference center. Design: Descriptive, retrospective study. Setting: Instituto Nacional de Salud del Niño (INSN), Lima, Peru. Material: Book of Complaints. Methods: A database was elaborated from the INSN Book of Complaints for the period July 2011 to September 2012. The patient could have had more than one complaint reason. Main outcome measures: Demographic data, frequency, motives, time of resolution, alluded personnel, and solution of complaints. Results: Two hundred and eighty-three formats were collected containing 358 complaints. Most frequent complaint reasons were: inappropriate attitude 32.1%, long waiting time 18.4%, deficient information 14.5%, deficient access to services 9.5%, loss of documentation (laboratory results or x-rays, formats, clinical records, among others) 7.8%, problem...

Little is known about the visit to Peru in april 1920, 100 years ago, of Dr. Hideyo Noguchi and his contribution to the study of Carrion’s disease or human bartonellosis. Perhaps because it is an almost exclusive disease in Peru, although cases have been reported in smaller numbers in Ecuador and Colombia, they have not had much international impact. Even though his visit was much commented by the newspapers of those years, time has blurred the activities of the visit, whose objective was to fight an outbreak of yellow fever in Paita. He spent three weeks in Piura and one week in Lima. It is in Lima that he learned of Carrion’s disease and the controversy as to whether La Oroya fever and peruvian wart were two distinct diseases or diferent phases of one disease. After five years he carried out numerous experimental investigations in New York contrib...

Introduction. The ability to perform adequate positive pressure ventilation is necessary for neonatal clinical practice. However, there are few studies on the achievements of undergraduate students on this task. It is necessary to assess health science students’ adequate positive pressure ventilation because it is vital at the beginning of their clinical activity. Objective. To evaluate the cognitive and procedural ability related to adequate positive pressure ventilation performed by 6th year medicine students and 4th year obstetrics students at a public university in Lima, Peru. Methods. We surveyed 78 medical and obstetric students in their last years of studies within six months of taking a course on neonatal resuscitation that included positive pressure ventilation theory and practice. Participants voluntarily agreed to participate in this study. Previously, we validated the surve...

Introduction: Neonatal resuscitation demands equipment for respiratory support not always available in rural areas. Innovative devices are required, and rapid prototyping allows to generate them using three-dimensional (3D) designs and printers. Objective: To evaluate the non-clinical performance and the acceptability by health personnel of a neonatal respiratory device produced by rapid prototyping. Methods: Observational study, descriptive, of proof of concept developed in two steps. Step 1: Manufacture of the device with rapid prototyping in three-dimensional (3D) scanners and printers. Step 2: Demonstration of the invention during training programs in neonatal resuscitation for health personnel in three regions of Peru (Tarapoto, Huánuco and Ayacucho). In both steps, we evaluated the performance of the device connected to a gas flow analyser. ...

Objetivos: Determinar el efecto de una exposición por 2 horas de hiperoxia al 40% y 100% sobre la morfología cerebral, en un modelo experimental de asfixia neonatal. Diseño: Experimental. Institución: Instituto Nacional de Salud del Niño. Material biológico: Muestra constituida por 120 ratas albinas Holtzman de 1 semana de nacidas, asignadas aleatoriamente. Intervenciones: Todos los animales (a excepción del grupo control) fueron sometidos previamente a asfixia experimental (O2 al 8%); luego, fueron expuestos a O2 al 100% y O2 al 40%, ambas por 2 horas, a O2 al 21% y grupo control. Principales medidas de resultados: Presencia de daño cerebral macroscópico, peso cerebral, porcentaje de daño cerebral microscópico. Resultados: El modelo experimental de asfixia neonatal en ratas produjo disminución del peso cerebral a los 7 días en los diferentes grupos de experimentación. El d...

Objectives: To determine the effect of 2-hour exposure to 21% O2, 40% O2 and 100% O2 on cerebral morphology in an experimentalmodel of neonatal asphyxia. Design: Experimental study. Setting: Instituto Nacional de Salud del Niño, Lima, Peru. Biologic material:Holtzman albino rats. Interventions: A sample of 120 one week-old Holtzman albino rats (with the exception of the control group)underwent experimental asphyxia by left carotid artery ligation and then exposition to hypoxia (8% O2); thereafter rats were randomlyassigned to one of the following groups: exposition for two hours to 100% O2, to 40% O2, to 21% O2, and a control group (notexposed to experimental asphyxia). Brain damage was determined by brain weight and percentage of microscopic brain area damage.Main outcome measures: Brain damage. Results: Brain weight was lower in animals with experimental hyperoxia (ANOVA, p<0.001)....