Understanding the Elements of Maternal Protection from Systemic Bacterial Infections during Early Life.

Sierra A Kleist,Kathryn A Knoop

doi:10.3390/nu12041045

Abstract

Late-onset sepsis (LOS) and other systemic bloodstream infections are notable causes of neonatal mortality, particularly in prematurely born very low birth weight infants. Breastfeeding in early life has numerous health benefits, impacting the health of the newborn in both the short-term and in the long-term. Though the known benefits of an exclusive mother’s own milk diet in early life have been well recognized and described, it is less understood how breastfed infants enjoy a potential reduction in risk of LOS and other systemic infections. Here we review how gut residing pathogens within the intestinal microbiota of infants can cause a subset of sepsis cases and the components of breastmilk that may prevent the dissemination of pathogens from the intestine.

Highlights

Bloodstream infections (BSIs) resulting from bacterial dissemination can be extremely harmful to neonates, preterm and very low birth weight (VLBW,
Late-onset neonatal sepsis (LOS) will continue to be an important issue among preterm infants as there is a constant reduction of the age of viability resulting from increased medical technology for treating babies born extremely preterm and at a VLBW, those that are most at risk for neonatal BSIs [3,4]
The potential mechanism of how breastmilk may protect from bacterial BSIs and LOS initially became elucidated around 10 years ago when multiple groups observed the pathogens residing in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract prior to sepsis events [17,18,19,20]