Necrotizing bowel disease with candida peritonitis following severe neonatal hypothermia.

Peritonitis due to Candida albicans is rare in the newborn infant. Three low birthweight, extremely ill premature infants who were severely hypothermic at the time of admission developed perforation of the gastrointestinal tract. C. albicans was cultured from the peritoneal fluid in each case. In view of the rareness of C. albicans peritonitis in newborns, this cluster of infants suggests a relationship between severe neonatal hypothermia, and bowel perforation with peritonitis due to this fungus.