What is the method for newborn disease screening?

Newborns are a group of people who are more likely to get sick because of their weak constitution. They are more susceptible to interference from some bacteria and viruses, such as some epidemic diseases. Of course, there are many ways to check for neonatal diseases. Here we will introduce a method for screening and querying neonatal diseases, hoping that it will be helpful to those parents.

(1) Blood collection time: Blood should be collected within 72 hours of the baby's birth and after at least 6 to 8 breastfeedings.

(2) Blood collection filter paper Blood collection filter paper must be consistent with standard filter paper, which is a special pure cotton high-quality filter paper with uniform texture, thickness, water absorption, water permeability, etc. The filter paper used by most newborn disease screening centers is the internationally recognized American Schleicher & Schuell 903 special filter paper, which not only ensures the quality of screening, but also has comparability with international screening materials.

(3) Blood collection site and method: The inner or outer side of the baby's heel is usually selected. The method is: massage or hot compress the baby's heel to make it congested, then disinfect it with alcohol and puncture it with a disposable blood collection needle, about 2 to 4 mm deep, discard the first drop of blood and drop the squeezed blood on a specific filter paper to allow it to fully penetrate to the back of the filter paper. It is required to collect 3 blood spots from each infant, and the diameter of each blood spot should be ≥10 mm.

(4) Specimen storage and delivery The blood filter paper should be dried in the shade at room temperature and delivered to the screening center within the specified time, or temporarily placed in a paper bag and stored in a refrigerator at 2-10°C.

(5) Requirements for filling out the blood collection card: All items on the blood collection card should be filled out one by one without missing any items. The handwriting should be clear and the text should be standardized.

(6) Screening methods With the development of current laboratory diagnostic technology, most domestic screening laboratories have adopted fluorescence analysis (fully quantitative) for PKU screening. A very small number still use the traditional Guthrie bacterial inhibition method (semi-quantitative). Some also use high-performance liquid chromatography for PKU screening. CH screening includes enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and enzyme immunofluorescence assay. In the past decade or so, developed countries have adopted tandem mass spectrometry technology to screen about 25 kinds of inherited metabolic defects, including amino acid, organic acid, and fatty acid metabolism disorders, greatly improving screening efficiency. Tandem mass spectrometry technology is the future development direction of neonatal disease screening.

The above is the method for newborn disease screening. The first step is blood drawing. Because some diseases can only be checked through blood drawing to check the condition of some cells in the body. In order to give the baby a healthy body, it is recommended that parents take the baby to the hospital for physical examination regularly, so as to achieve the purpose of early detection and early treatment.