Genetic Relatedness of Staphylococcus haemolyticus in Gut and Skin of Preterm Neonates and Breast Milk of Their Mothers

Background: Staphylococcus haemolyticus is a common colonizer and cause of late-onset sepsis (LOS) in preterm neonates. By describing genetic relatedness, we aimed to determine whether mother’s breast milk (BM) is a source of S. haemolyticus colonizing neonatal gut and skin and/or causing LOS. Methods: S. haemolyticus was isolated from stool and skin swabs of 49 BM-fed preterm neonates admitted to neonatal intensive care unit, 20 healthy BM-fed term neonates and BM of mothers once a week and typed by multilocus variable number tandem repeat analysis and multilocus sequence typing. Virulence-related genes were determined by polymerase chain reaction. Results: Compared with term neonates, S. haemolyticus colonized more commonly gut (35% vs. 89.9%; P
Source: The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal - Category: Infectious Diseases Tags: Maternal-Neonatal Reports Source Type: research