Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHSOne in five childhood deaths infection related
A study by the HPA has found that 20% of childhood deaths in England and Wales are infection related
The study explored infection related deaths in children aged 28 days to 14 years who died in England and Wales between 2003 and 2005.
There were 1368 infection-related deaths documented, and 50% had an underlying medical condition recorded. These included prematurity in infants, cerebral palsy and malignancy. The pathogen was identified in 837 deaths of these 494 were bacterial infections, 256 viral and 69 fungal infection.
The authors suggest strategies for reducing the number of infection-related deaths in children, include expanding vaccination programmes and improving identification of serious childhood infections by doctors.
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