A 6wk old with fever does require a "sepsis" workup as standard
procedure--this includes blood counts, blood culture, urine culture, often
spinal tap.  If the blood counts look the least little bit off, the baby
either is hospitalized for 2 days until the cultures are back or given a shot
of (usually) Rocephin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, and followed up the next
day by a physician.  It's often hard to tell in that age range whether the
infant has a viral infection or is brewing a serious bacterial infection, so
we tend to overdo it intentionally in order to treat the 1/10 of babies who
actually will have something really serious.

Even if there's some yeast overgrowth as a result of the treatment, it's
worth the risk in order to prevent a potentially very serious infection from
developing.

Linda L. Shaw MD FAAP

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