Evaluation and Comparison of Incidence of Neonatal Infection in Rooming-In and Nursery

SUMMARY This study comprises 732 newborns in the period from Dec. 15 1992 to June. 15 1993 in the neonatal ward, Bou Ali Medical Center. Of the newborns, 367 were cared for with rooming-in facilities and 365 in the nursery. Physical examinations performed at the first week, second week and the end of the 4th week showed that incidence of skin and ophthalmic infections were high in these newborns, the difference between the two groups was most significant in the first week. Skin infection in the first week was 11 % in the rooming-in group and 21 % in the nursery group (P<0.01). The rate of conjunctiva} infection in the first few days of life was 2.5% in rooming-in and 9.5% in nursery groups, but for the first week, 14 and 16% respectively (P<0.01).