Swabbing Newborns with Mothers' Vaginal Fluid Could be Unsafe

Newborns delivered by cesarean section are swabbed with fluid from the mother’s vagina; this can put the health of infants at risk, warned doctors and researchers. The practice, which is known as ‘vaginal seeding’ is now growing in popularity.

The treatment is given to compensate for the lack of exposure to natural, beneficial microbes found in the vaginal tract and thought to boost the health of the infant.

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The microbes are collected on gauze that had been placed in the vagina before birth for one hour. The gauze is then swabbed onto the newborns' mouth, face and body.

‘In vaginal seeding, a gauze swab is used to transfer a mother’s vaginal fluid to the body of her newborn baby immediately after cesarean delivery. ’

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Previous studies have shown that cesarean delivery is linked to a modest increase in the risk of obesity, asthma, and some autoimmune diseases.

But it is still uncertain whether swabbing C-section babies with the mother's vaginal secretions offers protection, the experts noted in the medical journal BMJ.

"There is simply no evidence to suggest it has benefits -- and it may carry potential risks," lead author Aubrey Cunnington, a researcher in the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London, said in a statement.

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The potential downside, she said in the editorial, is the transfer of harmful bacteria that provoke no symptoms in the mother, thus going undetected, or for which she may not have been tested.

These include B streptococcus, the most common cause of severe neonatal infections, along with herpes or gonococcus, the bacteria responsible for the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea.

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"These pathogens would probably also be transferred on a vaginal swab," the authors cautioned.

Many countries, including Britain, do not routinely screen all women for these dangerous bacteria in pregnancy, the editorial noted.

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In many developed countries, more than a quarter of babies are now delivered by cesarean section.

A study published in the Nature Medicine reported on a clinical trial in which doctors swabbed C-section newborns with fluids from the mother's vagina.

Monitoring the infants for 30 days, the researchers found that they had some, but not all, of the bacteria -- collectively known as the microbiota -- that would have been present had they been born naturally.

The study drew no conclusions, however, on long-term health benefits.

The microbiota is the community of microbes that colonizes our bodies, outnumbering our own cells by 10 to one. It varies in different parts of the body, and from one person to another.

Interest among researchers and doctors has surged in the potential for manipulating the microbiota to promote health and treat disease.

Source-AFP