Antimicrobial resistant bacteria found in newborn children from low- and middle-income countries
Published on August 5, 2022
Sepsis is a primary cause of mortality in newborns, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). A new study coordinated by Professor Tim Walsh at the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research (IOI) and Department of Biology looks at the links between the presence of bacteria resistant to antibiotics isolated from mothers and their newborn babies living across 7 LMICs in Africa and South Asia. They show that antimicrobial resistant bacteria are present in neonates after just a few hours of life, and find examples of transmission of sepsis-causing resistant bacteria within hospitals and from mothers to babies.