[CAPETOWN] An antibiotic rarely used in infants admitted to hospitals could be a safe and affordable, life-saving treatment for neonatal sepsis, in the face of growing resistance to other drugs, a study finds.

Neurological experts say the burden of neonatal sepsis — a blood infection that occurs in infants younger than 90 days old — is high in Sub-Saharan Africa where it affects an estimated 605,750 babies a year, resulting in up to 302,870 deaths.

According to the study published in Archives of Diseases in Childhood, the antibiotic fosfomycin has “significant potential” for the safe treatment of sepsis in infants, as antimicrobial resistance threatens the efficacy of other commonly used drugs.