For Tuesday, Oct. 3, WGN’s Dina Bair has new medical information, including:

Sepsis test could save lives & money

A new blood test for sepsis could save lives and money, according to a finding from a lead researcher at Penn State. 

The test is called IntelliSep.

The company behind the development requested decision modeling to understand its costs and benefits. 

Researchers did so in hospital emergency rooms. 

The test characterizes changes in a patient’s white blood cells to provide a fast evaluation of whether the person is at high risk of sepsis. 

The results were published in critical care explorations. 

FDA warns against probiotic use in pre-term infants

The FDA is warning hospitals against using probiotics in infants born prematurely. 

The federal agency said bacteria and fungi used in probiotics might put pre-term infants at risk of potentially fatal infections.

The letter referred to the case of an infant who received the probiotic Evivo. 

The baby died after developing sepsis caused by the live bacteria used in the probiotic. 

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, about 10% of preterm infants receive probiotics in neonatal ICUs.

Shouting at kids could be as harmful to them as physical and sexual abuse

According to a new study published in the Child Abuse and Neglect journal, shouting has lasting effects including depression, committing crimes, substance abuse, or becoming an abuser. 

Researchers found that shouting is harmful from any adult whether it be a parent, teacher, or coach. 

They want childhood verbal abuse to be given its own category of maltreatment in order to come up with prevention strategies.