Pattern of nosocomial infections in

contributes significantly to new-born deaths in Nigeria. A signifi-cant proportion of severe infec-tions in the newborn may be health care-related. Objective: To determine the prevalence, types and risk factors for nosocomial infections in the Special Care Baby Unit of a Nige-rian Tertiary Hospital. Method: A cross-sectional survey of consecutively admitted infants aged 0 to 28 days with signs of infections or who developed signs of infection following admission. Infants with or without nosoco-mial infections were compared for the clinical and laboratory details. Results: Out of 356 infants, 32 (8.9%) had between 1 and 3 noso-comial infections while 48 (13.5%) had community-acquired infections. Half of babies with nosocomial infections were pre-term and weighed less than 2kg. A significantly higher proportion of babies with nosocomial infec-tions were inborn (p < 0.000) and stayed longer than 7 days on ad-mission (p = 0.034). Bacteraemia was significantly more frequent among babies with nosocomial infections (p = 0.014) while super-ficial skin and mucosal infections occurred to similar extents in both groups. Klebsiella and Proteus species were the leading isolates among babies with nosocomial infections. Nasogastric intubation was significantly more frequently performed among babies with nosocomial infections (p = 0.045). Conclusion: The present study revealed that hospital acquired infection is an important cause of morbidity in the newborn unit