Can the CBC Identify Febrile Infants at Risk for Invasive Bacterial Infection?

Identifying febrile infants who are likely to have an invasive bacterial infection (IBI) continues to be a challenge. Guidelines and algorithms have focused on various laboratory tests, including the white blood cell (WBC) count, C-reactive protein level, and, more recently, procalcitonin level. Studies have shown that these tests are best at identifying infants at high risk for IBI, but no test can confidently identify which infants are at low risk for IBI.

To determine if various complete blood cell count (CBC) parameters (namely, WBC count, absolute neutrophil count, and platelet count) can accurately predict IBI in febrile infants, investigators conducted a planned secondary analysis of an observational cohort study involving 4313 febril…