Babies born via cesarean section aren't exposed to the suite of bacteria that populate their mothers' birth canals, often an infants first exposure to the "good" bacteria that will populate their young bodies, aiding in immune development and a number of other integral processes. However, a new bacterial wipe may help C-section babies by exposing them to the same bacteria they miss out on.
Researchers from the Icahn Institute for Genomic and Multiscale Biology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City found that by swabbing newborns with gauze containing bacteria from their mothers' vaginal fluid they were later populated with bacteria that untreated infants didn't have.
"There is a clear association between C-section and increased risk for several diseases," senior author of the study Jose Clemente, PhD, assistant professor of genetics and Genomics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said in a statement. "[T]o date, only a few research studies in mice have demonstrated that this is caused by difference in the microbiome early in life. Our work is the first to demonstrate in humans that we can modify the abnormal bacterial communities found in C-section babies."
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