Research presented at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases suggested that antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) are present in newborns shortly after birth. CIDRAP has the news.
A study analyzed the meconium (first stool passed by newborns) of 105 infants from July 2024 to July 2025 to check for the presence of ARGs. Recent research suggested that “gut bacteria may pass from the mother to the fetus and baby while in the womb, during delivery, and through breast feeding. In addition, infants are exposed to a number of organisms in the hospital environment after birth.”
Each sample “contained a median of eight ARGs,” and genes carrying “extended-spectrum beta-lactamase enzymes, which can confer resistance to several antibiotic classes, were found in roughly half the samples, while genes linked to carbapenem resistance were found in 21% of samples.”
The researchers found a “mix of maternal and hospital-environment-related factors” were to blame. While “some ARGs were associated with the mother being hospitalized during pregnancy, the insertion of a central venous catheter within the first 24 hours of life was associated with a fourfold risk of ARGs, a finding that suggests the newborns were exposed to ARG-carrying microbes from the hospital environment.”
