Procalcitonin an effective biomarker for bacterial infection in kids

Infants are commonly affected with fever and several infections, its a serious task to manage babies and their management is crucial. Fever in infants under 90 days of age is highly likely to be caused by a severe bacterial infection and it accounts for a large number of patients visiting the pediatric emergency room.

In order to predict the bacterial infection and reduce unnecessary treatment, the classic classification system is based on white blood cell count, urinalysis, and x-ray, and it is modified and applied at each center by incorporating recently studied biomarkers such as c-reactive protein or procalcitonin.

 The authors conducted this study to analyze the usefulness of procalcitonin in predicting severe bacterial infection when applied along with the existing classification system, including C-reactive protein, among infants less than 90 days old who visited with a fever at a single institution pediatric emergency center.