[Granulocyte function in septicemia of the newborn (author's transl)].

The ingestion- and Nitro Blue Tetrazolium-(NBT)-reduction-capacity of neutrophil leukocytes in three newborn infants with lethal septicemia was studied using a modified NBT-test. In comparison to 25 controls in healthy newborns (umbilical vein-blood) the results indicate a failure in the functioning of leukocytes. Besides other disturbances the impaired ingestion- and NBT-reduction-capacity of the neutrophil granulocytes during an infection probably leads to septicemia.