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Identification of Infantile Diarrhea Caused by Breast Milk-Transmitted Staphylococcus aureus Infection

Zhong Chen1, Wei-Guang Pan1, Wei-Yi Xian2

  • 1Department of Infectious Diseases and Shenzhen Key Lab for Endogenous infection, The Affiliated Shenzhen Nanshan Hospital, Guangdong Medical University, No 89, Taoyuan Road, Nanshan district, Shenzhen, 518052, China.

Current Microbiology
|June 27, 2016
PubMed

Insights

Breastfeeding may transmit Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) from mothers to infants. Genetic analysis confirmed S. aureus homology between mothers' milk and infant stool, highlighting potential infection routes.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Molecular Epidemiology

Background:

  • Staphylococcus aureus causes numerous human infections.
  • Vertical transmission of microorganisms, including S. aureus, from mother to infant via breastfeeding is possible.
  • Identifying specific transmission routes is crucial for infant health.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the transmission of Staphylococcus aureus from healthy lactating mothers to their infants through breastfeeding.
  • To genetically characterize S. aureus strains isolated from paired mother-infant samples.

Main Methods:

  • Collection of breast milk and infant stool samples from three mother-infant pairs.
  • Isolation and culture of Staphylococcus aureus.
  • Molecular typing using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and spa typing.
  • Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) to determine sequence types (STs).
  • Detection of toxin genes (seb, sec, tst, pvl).

Main Results:

  • Six Staphylococcus aureus isolates were cultured, with identical PFGE and spa types within each mother-infant pair.
  • Four sequence types (ST15, ST188, ST59) were identified.
  • Toxin genes seb, sec, and tst were detected; the pvl gene was absent.
  • Genetic homology confirmed S. aureus transmission from mothers to infants via breastfeeding.

Conclusions:

  • Breastfeeding is a potential route for Staphylococcus aureus transmission from mothers to infants.
  • The characterized S. aureus strains show genetic relatedness between maternal milk and infant infections.
  • Further evaluation of S. aureus characteristics in this context is warranted.

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