{"id":360053,"date":"2026-04-02T09:19:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T09:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/360053\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T09:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T09:19:14","slug":"umbilical-cord-antiseptics-reduce-neonatal-mortality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/360053\/","title":{"rendered":"Umbilical Cord Antiseptics Reduce Neonatal Mortality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>APPLYING antiseptics to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.emjreviews.com\/microbiology-infectious-diseases\/news\/umbilical-cord-biomarkers-may-help-detect-early-sepsis-in-newborns\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">umbilical cord<\/a>\u00a0likely reduces\u00a0the risk of cord infection and may reduce\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.emjreviews.com\/respiratory\/news\/nirsevimab-linked-to-lower-rsv-hospitalization\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">neonatal<\/a>\u00a0mortality in low- and middle-income countries, a\u00a02026 systematic review\u00a0and meta-analysis\u00a0has found.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Topical application of 4.0% chlorhexidine to the cord, however,\u00a0probably delays\u00a0separation by around 2 days.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Importance of\u00a0Umbilical Cord-Care\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The umbilical cord, when cut after birth, usually dries and falls off on its own within 5\u201315 days.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>During this period, the area can easily become colonised by bacteria from the infant\u2019s skin or environment, researchers reported.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As the stump\u00a0contains\u00a0dead tissue, bacteria can grow and cause omphalitis.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In extreme cases, this can develop into septicaemia.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Chlorhexidine\u00a0Results\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The review included 143,150 newborns in both low- and high-income settings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In low- and middle-income settings,\u00a0it was found that\u00a0applying chlorhexidine: may reduce the risk of newborn deaths by around three per 1,000 live births, likely reduces cord infections by\u00a025 per 1,000 live births, and\u00a0increases average time for the cord stump to fall off by approximately 2 days.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In high-income countries, chlorhexidine\u00a0exhibited\u00a0uncertain evidence\u00a0around cord separation time and was not studied for the prevention of newborn deaths.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>70% Alcohol Results\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In low- and middle-income countries, 70% alcohol was not studied in terms of mortality and gave uncertain\u00a0evidence surrounding cord infection and time taken for the cord to fall off.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In high-income countries, however,\u00a070% alcohol\u00a0likely increased\u00a0the average time for the stump to fall off by\u00a0nearly 2\u00a0days.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Implications for Neonatal Care\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Current evidence overall supports the use of chlorhexidine as an effective antiseptic for preventing cord infection in neonates, researchers reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This is particularly\u00a0apparent\u00a0in settings where neonatal mortality and infection risk are high.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Alternatively, in setting with\u00a0a low risk\u00a0of infection, clean and dry cord-care\u00a0\u00a0is\u00a0still an effective approach.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Researchers,\u00a0therefore,\u00a0suggested that clinicians should consider local epidemiology, availability of health services, and existing newborn-care practices when assessing the benefits of antiseptics in this context.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Reference\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Imdad A et al. Umbilical cord antiseptics for preventing sepsis and death among newborns.\u00a0Cochrane\u202fDatabase\u202fSyst\u00a0Rev.\u00a02026;DOI:10.1002\/14651858.CD008635.pub3.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Featured image:\u00a0Ruslan\u00a0Russland\u00a0on Adobe Stock\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"APPLYING antiseptics to the\u00a0umbilical cord\u00a0likely reduces\u00a0the risk of cord infection and may reduce\u00a0neonatal\u00a0mortality in low- and middle-income countries,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[134,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-360053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}