The importance of C3d estimation in the diagnosis of generalized bacterial infections in newborn infants.

We evaluated the clinical relevance of a new C3d test in generalized bacterial neonatal infections. C3d was qualitatively evaluated by using an original counterimmunoelectrophoresis technique in 171 plasma. There were 13 cases of bacteriologically proven cases of septicemia and/or meningitis, 6 cases of probable and 42 cases of possible generalized infection. One hundred and ten non-infected samples were also tested. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were 73.6, 83.6, 43.7 and 94.8%, respectively. The numbers of false positive and false negative were therefore found to be close to those observed when using classical infection markers.