Restoring microbes in infants born by cesarean section

NIH | MARCH 16, 2016

Babies delivered via the birth canal acquire a microbial community (microbiota) that resembles that of their mother’s vagina. Babies born by cesarean section tend to acquire a microbial community that more closely resembles that of their mother’s skin. The microbiota acquired by a newborn are thought to be essential for the development of a healthy immune system and metabolism.

A newborn. Image credit: Ernest F/Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)

A research team from NYU Langone Medical Center and Icahn School of Medicine in Mount Sinai, New York, set out to determine whether they could alter the microbiota of babies born by C-section by exposing them to maternal vaginal fluids at birth.

For the procedure, a sterile gauze pad was incubated in the mother’s birth canal an hour before the C-section. The newborn was then swabbed with the gauze within the first 1–3 minutes after birth, starting with the mouth, then the face, and then the rest of the body.

The researchers found that the microbiomes of the C-section–delivered infants exposed to vaginal fluids resembled those of vaginally delivered infants, especially during the first week of life. Their gut, mouth, and skin bacterial communities during the first 30 days of life were enriched in vaginal bacteria. These bacteria were underrepresented in the C-section–delivered infants that weren’t swabbed with vaginal fluids.

The health impacts remain to be studied.

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