Final answer:
An infant in secondary apnea usually will not respond to stimulation and begin breathing. Immediate medical help is necessary, and this can be alerted by monitors using electromagnetic induction. Apgar scores are essential to assess the need for intervention.
Step-by-step explanation:
An infant in secondary apnea will generally not respond to stimulation and begin breathing on their own. Secondary apnea occurs after a period in which the infant may have already been in primary apnea, responded to initial stimulation by beginning to breathe again, but then fell into a deeper state of apnea.
When it comes to sleep apnea in infants, immediate medical intervention is often required. Monitors that use electromagnetic induction can alert parents or caregivers by detecting changes in the induced current generated by a wire wrapped around the chest of an infant, signaling that the infant has stopped breathing.
In terms of assessing a newborn's condition at birth, the Apgar score is critical. Heart rate and respiration are the most critical of the five Apgar criteria, with a score lower than 7 indicating that medical assistance is needed. An Apgar score below 5 is considered an emergency situation. Therefore, infants in secondary apnea, shown by a lack of response to stimulation and poor respiration scores, will likely require resuscitation or other medical interventions to resume breathing.