Persistent crying as predominant manifestation of sepsis in infants and newborns

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