Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding and Early Infant Male Circumcision in Africa

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Obstet Gynecol
• Personal Author:
  Plank, Rebeca M. ; Steinmetz, Tara ; Sokal, David C. ; Shearer, Martin J. ; Data, Santorino
• Description:
  BACKGROUND
  
  Early infant (1–60 days of life) male circumcision is being trialed in Africa as a human immuno-deficiency virus prevention strategy. Postcircumcision bleeding is particularly concerning where most infants are breastfed, and thus these infants are at increased risk of vitamin K deficiency bleeding.
  
  CASE
  
  During a circumcision trial, one infant bled for 90 minutes postprocedure. After discovering he had not received standard prophylactic vitamin K, we gave 2 mg phytomenadione (vitamin K1) intramuscularly; bleeding stopped within 30 minutes.
  
  CONCLUSION
  
  Vitamin K’s extremely rapid action is not commonly appreciated. Neonatal vitamin K has been shown to be cost-effective. To increase availability and promote awareness of its importance, especially in low-resource settings where blood products and transfusions are limited, vitamin K should be included in the World Health Organization’s Model List of Essential Medicines for Children.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Africa Article Circumcision, Male Hemorrhage Humans Infant, Newborn Male Vitamin K 1 Vitamin K Deficiency Vitamins
• Source:
  Obstet Gynecol. 2013; 122(2 0 2):503-505
• Pubmed ID:
  23884276
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC3773869
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  K23 AI084579/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States ; U2G PS000941/PS/NCHHSTP CDC HHS/United States ; 5K23AI084579/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States ; U2GPS000941-01/PHS HHS/United States ; PEPFAR/United States
• Volume:
  122
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:a245d662f5dca58404830a63ac68f8f12793d364296df39a5942bdb38b17b571
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/41914/cdc_41914_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 30.43 KB ]