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To the Editor:We thank Manzoni et al for their interest in our article. Their hypothesis was very attractive.We studied 911 very low birth weight infants. There was no use of prophylactic drugs for Candida infection on these newborn infants. Neutropenia was present in 117, six with positive blood culture for Candida. Thirty-six of 794 non-neutropenic infants had positive blood culture for Candida (P = .775). The overall incidence of Candida sepsis was 4.6%. We did not have data on Candida colonization.Neutropenia is present in the first 72 hours in newborn infants of mothers with preeclampsia,1Mouzinho A. Rosenfeld C.R. Sanchez P.J. Risser R. Revised reference ranges for circulating neutrophils in very-low-birth-weight neonates.Pediatrics. 1994; 94: 76-82PubMed Google Scholar and Candida is a cause of late-onset sepsis.2Stoll B.J. Hansen N. Fanaroff A.A. Wright L.L. Carlo W.A. Ehrenkranz R.A. et al.Late-onset sepsis in very low birth weight neonates: the experience of the NICHD neonatal research network.Pediatrics. 2002; 110: 285-291Crossref PubMed Scopus (1719) Google Scholar That might be the reason that there was no association between them. To the Editor: We thank Manzoni et al for their interest in our article. Their hypothesis was very attractive. We studied 911 very low birth weight infants. There was no use of prophylactic drugs for Candida infection on these newborn infants. Neutropenia was present in 117, six with positive blood culture for Candida. Thirty-six of 794 non-neutropenic infants had positive blood culture for Candida (P = .775). The overall incidence of Candida sepsis was 4.6%. We did not have data on Candida colonization. Neutropenia is present in the first 72 hours in newborn infants of mothers with preeclampsia,1Mouzinho A. Rosenfeld C.R. Sanchez P.J. Risser R. Revised reference ranges for circulating neutrophils in very-low-birth-weight neonates.Pediatrics. 1994; 94: 76-82PubMed Google Scholar and Candida is a cause of late-onset sepsis.2Stoll B.J. Hansen N. Fanaroff A.A. Wright L.L. Carlo W.A. Ehrenkranz R.A. et al.Late-onset sepsis in very low birth weight neonates: the experience of the NICHD neonatal research network.Pediatrics. 2002; 110: 285-291Crossref PubMed Scopus (1719) Google Scholar That might be the reason that there was no association between them. Preeclampsia, neutropenia, and risk of fungal sepsis in preterm very low birth weight infantsThe Journal of PediatricsVol. 158Issue 1PreviewTo the Editor: Full-Text PDF