Every year, on September 13th, we observe World Sepsis Day, an important date in the calendar to raise awareness about sepsis – a life-threatening condition that occurs when the body’s response to infection damages its own tissues and organs.
In newborns, sepsis is particularly dangerous, more so when caused by bacteria that have evolved to resist the very antibiotics meant to kill them. Antibiotic-resistant sepsis claims the lives of approximately 214,000 newborns every year, ranking it among the top causes of neonatal death worldwide. Research has shown that the burden of neonatal sepsis and antimicrobial resistance is highest in low- and middle-income settings, such as Sub-Saharan African countries.
Clinical trials are essential to determine which antibiotics, and at what doses, work best to treat severe infections in newborns. Unfortunately, newborns are frequently excluded from clinical trials, which means that there is very little information about the most effective treatments for them. What’s more, in many cases, the antibiotics recommended by the World Health Organization for treating infections in babies are no longer effective against drug-resistant bacteria.
The EDCTP3-funded, Penta-led SNIP-AFRICA project is stepping in to close this knowledge gap. This collaboration between African and European researchers is conducting an adaptive trial, NeoSep1, which will test different antibiotic treatments in areas where multidrug-resistant bacteria are common, to find the most effective treatments for newborn sepsis.
Another study within the project, named PRECISION, will focus on determining the optimal dose of the antibiotic colistin in newborns and children under the age of 2. Colistin is sometimes used as a last-resort option for treating antibiotic-resistant infections, but there is little information about the best doses for this age group.
With this research, SNIP-AFRICA is aiming to reduce newborn deaths by providing evidence for better antibiotic treatments for sepsis. In the future, the findings could help update clinical guidelines for treating newborn sepsis at local, national, and WHO levels, giving these vulnerable babies a better start in life.
Watch this video featuring Angela Dramowski and Adrie Bekker from Stellenbosch University (South Africa) for more information about neonatal sepsis and SNIP-AFRICA.