Several cytokines (IL-1, IL6, TNF-α) are important mediators of the host imflammatory response to bacterial infection. Objective: to evaluate Il-6, IL-8, TNF-α and sIL2R as markers for diagnosing early neonatal infectious disease (< 72 hours of life).

Methods: Blood samples were obtained from umbilical cord at birth from 60 neonates. 5 infants had early neonatal sepsis with positive culture. Six patients with neonatal complications in whom sepsis was ruled out(“non infectious”) and 9 healthy infants of similar gestational age were randomly selected and served as controls.

Results: Main results are showed in the table.

Table 1
Full size table

All except one of the bacteriologically proven infected neonates had significantly elevated blood cord levels either of IL-6 and IL-8. One healthy infant and 3 with non infectious neonatal complications had elevated IL-6 levels. In contrat, none infant from both control groups (healthy and non infectious) exhibited elevated IL-8 levels. Conclusion: while blood cord levels of IL-6 appears to be related to clinical complications in the perinatal period. IL-8 levels appears to be a good predictor of early neonatal bacterial infection.