The use of antibiotics to prevent transmission of Group B Streptococcus to vaginally born babies seems to reduce the bacterial diversity of the infant gut microbiome.
Antibiotic Use for Group B Strep + Moms Lowers Infant Microbe Diversity
Bacterial Farts – Whoopie!
Of all the bacterial communities in and on humans, we know the most about the digestive system bacteria. These microbes are extremely important for proper digestion of plant fibers, synthesizing vitamins, short-chain fatty acids, protecting our gut lining, breaking down medicines, and many other properties we are still learning about. One of my favorite science podcasts, Brains’s On!, does a fun job talking about our gut bacterial friends from a different perspective – farts! Depending on your microbial community and what you feed it, sometimes as your microbes are doing their work breaking down the foods we eat they give off gaseous compounds.
“Seeding” a C-section Newborn with Vaginal Microbes: Can we? Should we?
New research is out today from the laboratory of Dr. Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello demonstrating that at least part of mom’s vaginal microbiome can be transmitted to her c-section delivered infant. Infants born via c-section are at increased risk of developing non-communicable diseases such as asthma, diabetes, immune system disorders, and obesity. C-section babies frequently have a microbiome that is more similar to skin bacteria than mom’s vagina or GI tract. Swabbing a baby at birth with mom’s vaginal fluids is a potentially low cost, easy way to mimic one aspect of vaginal birth and transmit potentially beneficial microbes. Parents considering this procedure should check for the presence of pathogens such as Group B Strep and viral pathogens. Any such procedure should be discussed with your medical care team. For the full post – go to the post at Science and Sensibility’s website. Vaginal Seeding Procedure Illustration by Cara Gibson, Phd
#MicrobeWeek: Continuing the Celebration
More #MicrobeWeek YouTube videos including one we made. Yesterday’s post on #MicrobeWeek featured a fabulous video Microbes of New York from the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). #MicrobeWeek was inspired the current microbially focused exhibition The Secret World Inside You, at AMNH (see my review). AMNH teamed up with BrainCraft, Gross Science, and Science Friday to create four YouTube videos and other content about their favorite microbial research.
Can Breastfeeding Help Antibiotic-Exposed Microbiomes Recover?
Exclusive breastfeeding for at least three months may lessen the effect of antibiotic use during labor and delivery on an infant’s microbiome. Cesarean delivery and antibiotic use during vaginal or C-section childbirth decreases diversity of an infant’s microbiome [1, 2]. However, a study by Azad et al. suggests that exclusive breastfeeding for at least three months may lessen the effect of maternal use of antibiotics during labor and delivery on the microbiome [3]. Breastfeeding may repair the infant microbiome after antibiotic use. Birth is a key time for beneficial microbes to be transmitted from mother to infant, especially during vaginal birth [1, 4, 5]. However antibiotics that disrupt microbiome transmission may be used during both vaginal and Cesarean section (C-section) deliveries. During childbirth, especially in Canada and the United States, antibiotics may be used for several reasons. In vaginal deliveries, antibiotics are used to prevent transmission of Group B Streptococcus (GBS) transmission to the infant. However, the use of antibiotics for GBS is correlated with increased antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli infections in infants [6]. Antibiotics may also be given to reduce opportunistic pathogen infections during long labors where the amniotic sac membrane has ruptured. Cesarean section surgeries use antibiotics as