Persistent crying as predominant manifestation of sepsis in infants and newborns.

Acute episodes of unexplained crying in infants may be due to serious and even life-threatening conditions. We present six infants in whom excessive crying was the predominant initial manifestation of sepsis for a period of time that ranged from 2 to 10 hours, before other symptoms or signs became evident. This led to a diagnostic delay in two patients who were considered initially to have infant colic. Sepsis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of acute unexplained crying in infants.