Over an eight year period a total of 11 neonates were managed for burn injuries. Five of them were males and six females with a male: female (M: F) ratio of 1:1.2. Their age range was from zero to 25 days with an average of 6.55 +- 8.12 days. Eight (72.7%) of them were one to two days old. Their weight on admission was between 1400g to 3600g with a mean of 2718.2 +- 764.0g. The weight gain at the time of discharge/death ranged from 100g to 1100g with the highest gain of 1100g occurring in the twins who had the smallest weight on admission. The characteristics of the neonates is as shown on [Table 1].
Eight (72.7%) out of the 11 neonates that were admitted were out born babies i.e. they were not delivered in our facility. There were two sets of twins with the rest as singletons who accounted for 63.6% of those admitted. Six (55.5%) of the babies were term babies and the rest (45.5%) were pre-term babies. Majority (81.8%) of the mothers of the babies were primiparous women and only two were multiparous women, one of whom had a parity of nine.
Nine (81.8%) of the burn injuries were as a result of bathing with hot water. Most (66.6%) of these bathing was carried by the grandmothers and mothers of the babies as shown on [Table 1]. The total burns surface area (TBSA) ranged from 1% to 62% with a mean of 17.7 +- 18.4% and a median (IQR) of 11(7.5 - 19.0). The injuries were mainly superficial partial thickness burns and only one deep partial thickness burns which also had the highest TBSA. Almost all parts of the body were involved ranging from a single region to multiple regions of the body as shown in Figures 1-3.