About this trial
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if preterm infants who are prescribed antibiotics shortly after birth can safety receive a shorter course of antibiotics (24 to 36 hours instead of 48 hours). The main questions it aims to answer are:
* Does short-course ampicillin provide high enough levels of ampicillin at 48 hours? * Is short-course ampicillin safe for preterm infants to receive?
Preterm infants who are being prescribed ampicillin by their doctor and enroll in the study will stop ampicillin after a shorter than typical course, and researchers will collect blood samples to measure their ampicillin levels and follow them clinically to see how they do after receiving short-course ampicillin.
Participants will:
* stop ampicillin earlier than 48 hours (between 24 to 36 hours, depending on how premature they are and the dosing of ampicillin their doctor has prescribed) * have a blood sample collected around 48 hours from when they started ampicillin * have their data collected until 30 days after they receive short-course ampicillin, or until hospital discharge, whichever is sooner
Eligibility criteria
Qualifiers
Documented informed consent from parent/guardian
Infants admitted to the Duke Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
less than or equal to 34 completed weeks gestational age (GA) at birth and < 7 days of life at time of screening
Prescribed ampicillin by provider per standard of care for evaluation of early onset sepsis
Disqualifiers
Infant on extracorporeal support (e.g., ECMO)
Positive blood culture or other confirmed infection
At time of consent, infants with GA <28 completed weeks who have received more than 24 hours of empiric ampicillin OR infants with GA 28 to 34 completed weeks who have received > 32 to 36 hours of ampicillin, depending on dosing regimen
Has major congenital abnormalities where survival to 30 days of life is not expected
Trial design
Treatments tested in this trial
- Ampicillin prescribed by provider per standard of care for evaluation of early onset sepsis
Treatment groups
Sponsors and collaborators
Duke University
Lead sponsor
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Collaborator