Neonatal pneumococcal sepsis in association with fatal maternal pneumococcal sepsis

A live male infant was born at 37 weeks' gestation after a normal pregnancy to a 34-year-old mother. The baby developed bacteraemia with Streptococcus pneumoniae and recovered completely following treatment with antibiotics. The mother simultaneously developed bacteraemia with the same organism and died from septic shock. Blood culture isolates from mother and child were both serogroup 23F, and were shown to be identical by DNA fingerprinting. The literature reports rare cases of vaginal carriage and/or endometritis with this organism resulting in neonatal sepsis. Transmission to the neonate may have been ascending or haematogenous. A postmortem examination was refused.