Early Onset Neonatal Sepsis (EONS) is common in preterm infants, and it is associated with high morbidity and mortality, especially if not diagnosed early. Currently the baseline workup is done using blood samples from the infant to perform Blood culture, CBC, I/T ratio. These tests have shown to have low sensitivity and specificity to diagnosis EONS.
PUCB can be another safe source of blood which is useful, painless and simple to collect. As CBC, I/T ratio and blood culture may not be enough to diagnose EONS we will add IL-6 and CRP which will increase sensitivity and specificity to diagnose EONS in preterm infants without collecting blood from the infants.
This study may be a step to decrease iatrogenic blood loss to diagnose EONS. The primary outcome of the current research will be to find out the utility of PUCB in diagnosing EOS in preterm infants (\<30 weeks and \<1250 grams birth weight). Using PUCB can increase the accuracy to diagnose Sepsis in Preterm infants, and it will also conserve blood in the extremely premature infants while reducing hemodynamic instability due to acute blood loss.
