All newborns aged 0-28 days admitted during the period of study
with one or more symptoms/signs suggestive of sepsis or risk factors
for sepsis were recruited into the study. For every neonate recruited,
mini-ESR was estimated with capillary blood obtained by heel prick,
collected in a standard 75 millimeter heparinised micro-hematocrit
tube with internal diameter of 1.1 millimeters. Air was not allowed to
interrupt the column of blood to avoid false normal result and one end
of the tube was sealed with 2-3 millimeter of clay. The capillary tubes
were placed on vertical lines drawn on a wall of each ward using 45
degree set square (rule). The capillary tubes were anchored firmly with
adhesive at the base of the tubes with the names of the patients and time
of blood collection stated. Alarm clocks were used to ensure that the
one hour sedimentation period was maintained; thereafter the distance
from the highest point of the plasma column to the meniscus of the
packed red cell column (height of the plasma column) of each tube was