Child Health And Human Development - 2300 Words

INTRODUCTION Many diseases have been discovered, studied, and are diagnosed to many individuals of different ages today. Of all individuals premature babies are prime to acquiring diseases, as their immune system has not reached full term. Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) derives from a European literature that help define the disease as, â€Å"necrotizing† meaning death of tissues, â€Å"entero† referring to the small intestines, â€Å"colo† is the large intestine, and â€Å"itis† meaning inflammation.8 Necrotizing enterocolitis is the most common and devastating disease in neonates. It is a gastrointestinal disease that affects distant organs such as the brain and places affected infants at substantially increased risk for neurodevelopmental delays.3, 8 The†¦show more content†¦Although many other factors may be involved with the development of necrotizing enterocolitis only premature neonates are found to be involved in case-controlled studies. 8 X-rays can show the abdomen having a bubbly appearance, a sign of air or gas present in the large intestines.14 With many research findings and studies available medical researchers are able to help narrow the understanding of NEC in the symptoms, causation, and medical treatment. Infants with NEC are those 5% of infants who are most sick found in the NICU that display a large amount of morbidity and mortality and low rate of survival. 3,13,14 Once an infant is diagnosed with NEC there is little treatment that can differ the course of the disease. 8 The studies with NEC have been able to help researchers with diagnosis, but it remains baffling.9 The treatment of NEC is difficult, and faulty, pathogenesis is still to be proven, and no effective prevention strategy has been complied with.9 With the lack of improvement shown in the mortality rate for NEC over the past years, medical investigators have to re-examine epidemiologic factors involved with NEC to search for strategies to prevent and treat the disease. 8 EPIDEMIOLOGY Neonates with necrotizing enterocolitis have been studied to be able to get a greater understanding of how this disease occurs and the types of preventions that can be placed to be able to