Search
Neonatal sepsis remains one of the key challenges of neonatal medicine, and together with preterm birth, causes almost 50% of all deaths globally for children younger than 5 years. Compared with advances achieved for other serious neonatal and early childhood conditions globally, progress in reducing neonatal sepsis has been much slower, especially in low-resource settings that have the highest burden of neonatal sepsis morbidity and mortality.
A birth acellular pertussis vaccine may be a valuable alternative for immunity against infant pertussis when a pregnancy pertussis vaccine has not been administered. We assessed whether a birth dose may impair immunoglobulin G (IgG) responses to childhood pertussis boosters.
Maternal influenza and pertussis vaccination is an important strategy to reduce morbidity and mortality in infants. Previous vaccine safety studies have mostly focused on the association between maternal vaccination and fetal death.
Vaccine hesitancy and suboptimal vaccine uptake pose significant threats to public health, but modifiable psychological factors underpinning them are under-investigated. We examined the prevalence of spontaneous emotional mental imagery relating to infectious diseases and perinatal vaccines and its unique associations with vaccine hesitancy and uptake behaviour.
Immunomodulatory proteins in human milk (HM) can shape infant immune development. However, strategies to modulate their levels are currently unknown. This study investigated whether maternal prebiotic supplementation alters the levels of immunomodulatory proteins in HM.
Ingestion of prebiotics during pregnancy and lactation may have immunomodulatory benefits for the developing fetal and infant immune system and provide a potential dietary strategy to reduce the risk of allergic diseases. We sought to determine whether maternal supplementation with dietary prebiotics reduces the risk of allergic outcomes in infants with hereditary risk.
Gut microbiota play a critical role in long-term health by supporting metabolism, immune function, inflammation regulation, and neurological development via the gut–brain axis. Beneficial bacteria enhance gut integrity through short-chain fatty acid production, pathogen inhibition, and mucosal barrier support.
Jane Pillow BMedSci (Dist) MBBS, PhD (Dist) FRACP Head, Developmental Chronobiology jane.pillow@thekids.org.au Head, Developmental Chronobiology
Although the incidence of malaria is increased in women in endemic areas after delivery compared to non-pregnant women, no studies have assessed the benefit of presumptive antimalarial treatment given postpartum.
Neonatal sepsis is a deadly disease with non-specific clinical signs, delaying diagnosis and treatment. There remains a need for early biomarkers to facilitate timely intervention. Our objective was to identify neonatal sepsis gene expression biomarkers that could predict sepsis at birth, prior to clinical presentation.