Why does neonatal jaundice cause sepsis?

Regarding the question of whether neonatal jaundice can cause sepsis, it should actually be the other way around. In fact, it is sepsis that causes neonatal jaundice, or in other words, sepsis will manifest as more obvious jaundice. One of the causes of jaundice is infection.

Severe infection can cause damage to liver function. If liver function is damaged, the liver's ability to process bilirubin will decrease, which will cause a significant increase in bilirubin. The manifestations of bilirubin encephalopathy are mainly repeated convulsions, twitching, and even brain screaming, accompanied by obvious jaundice throughout the body. This is not called jaundice, but hyperbilirubinemia, obvious hyperbilirubinemia. Generally speaking, at this time, the bilirubin level in the blood will exceed 20 mg/dL. Of course, there are individual differences. Some children may show symptoms of bilirubin encephalopathy when the level is 17 mg/dL to 18 mg/dL, so the most common manifestations are convulsions and brain screaming.