BACKGROUND Although neonatal infections cause a significant proportion of deaths in the first week of life, little is known about the burden of neonatal disease originating from maternal infection or colonization globally. This paper describes the prevalence of vertical transmission--the percentage of newborns with neonatal infection among newborns exposed to maternal infection. METHODS We se...

BACKGROUND Serotype-specific polysaccharide based group B streptococcus (GBS) vaccines are being developed. An understanding of the serotype epidemiology associated with maternal colonization and invasive disease in infants is necessary to determine the potential coverage of serotype-specific GBS vaccines. METHODS Colonizing GBS isolates were identified by vaginal swabbing of mothers during a...

We previously reported that, before tooth eruption, over one-half of infants aged 6 mos were already infected with Streptococcus mutans. The aim of this investigation was to determine the colonization of S. mutans after tooth eruption in the same cohort of 111 infants (35 pre-term, 76 full-term). Our results showed that S. mutans colonization increased with increasing age, so that by 24 mos of ...

Campylobacter jejuni is one of the leading bacterial causes of food-borne gastroenteritis. Infection with C. jejuni is frequently acquired through the consumption of undercooked poultry or foods cross-contaminated with raw poultry. Given the importance of poultry as a reservoir for Campylobacter organisms, investigators have performed studies to understand the protective role of maternal antibo...

Pre-term birth (PTB) associated with intrauterine infection and inflammation (IUI) is the major cause of early PTB less than 32 weeks of gestation. Ureaplasma spp. are common commensals of the urogenital tract in pregnancy and are the most commonly identified microorganisms in amniotic fluid of pre-term pregnancies. While we have an understanding of the causal relationship between intra-amnioti...

14–30% of the subjects (Bifidobacterium, Enterococcus, and the Bacteroides fragilis group). Fallani compared neonatal fecal samples from Sweden, Scotland, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Bifidobacterium genus was predominant (40% average proportion of total detectable bacteria), followed by Bacteroides (11.4%) and Enterobacteria (7.5%; Fallani et al., 2010). Differences in colonization pattern can b...

Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a major cause of severe systemic and local infections in newborns. This study was performed to evaluate the presence of GBS in pregnant women and their newborns in Tabriz, Iran. Vaginal specimens were collected from 965 women who were candidate for vaginal delivery for bacteriological study of group B streptococci. Several samples from various sites of the newborn...

A case of neonatal sepsis caused by Edwardsiella tarda, a bacterium usually associated with freshwater ecosystems, is described. The infant's mother was immersed in lake water during the sixth month of pregnancy and had vaginal and gastrointestinal colonization with the same strain of E tarda as the infant at the time of delivery. This case suggests that maternal exposures to contaminated bodie...