In a study published in the journal PLOS Medicine, researchers from the JIPMER in Puducherry revealed that many newborns are dying because the antibiotics used to treat sepsis are losing effectiveness. The observational study included more than 3,200 newborns suffering from the infection in 11 countries, including India. 

Initially, the researchers observed a high mortality rate among infants with culture-positive sepsis, almost 1 in 5 across the hospital sites, and a significant burden of antibiotic resistance. Sepsis is a life-threatening bloodstream infection that affects up to 3 million babies a year globally. Every year, 214,000 newborns, mostly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), die of sepsis resistant to antibiotic treatment.

Hence, they designed a study to determine the cause and treatment of infection. The study observed a wide variation in the mortality rate across the 19 clinical sites and hospitals. The mortality rate varied from 1.6% to 27.3% across these clinical trial sites and hospitals.

Additionally, the researchers revealed that they had used more than 200 different antibiotic combinations in the study, as they frequently switched antibiotics due to high resistance to treatments. Due to the increased antibiotic resistance in infants, they were sometimes forced to use antibiotics such as carbapenems.

Carbapenems are classified as "watch" antibiotics by the World Health Organisation. They are recommended only for specific and limited indications.

Furthermore, the team of researchers developed two tools that can be used in clinical trials and any neonatal intensive care unit worldwide based on the data collected from the study. 

The first tool, the NeoSep Severity Score, was developed based on the ten clinical signs and symptoms used by clinicians to identify newborns who are at high risk of mortality. This was designed to ensure that at-risk infants get special attention immediately.

The second tool, the NeoSep Recovery Score, used many of the same clinical signs and symptoms. But this was designed to provide clinicians with crucial information on whether to escalate treatment. 

(Source:https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/many-newborns-dying-due-to-loss-of-efficacy-of-antibiotics-against-sepsis-study/articleshowprint/100875876.cms?val=3728 )