Massive pulmonary hemorrhage in neonatal infection.

Of 35 newborn infants who died from an infection 19 had postmortem evidence of massive pulmonary hemorrhage. All but 1 of the 19 had evidence of antimortem formation of intravascular fibrin clots in lung tissue. Seventeen infants had low platelet counts. Of the 11 infants in whom coagulation studies were done, 8 had evidence of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) during life. Vasculitis in the lungs, associated with fibrin clots and hemorrhages, was detected in two infants. It is postulated that sepsis is an important cause of hemorrhage in the newborn, probably as a result of the development of DIC.