Neonatal Medicine News

A recent prospective cohort study found that regardless of the trimester of vaccination, women who received the influenza and pertussis vaccines did not have adverse birth outcomes compared with unvaccinated mothers.

The FDA granted marketing authorization to Meridian Bioscience Inc. for the Alethia CMV Assay Test System to aid in detecting cytomegalovirus in newborns less than 21 days of age.

Chemerin mRNA expression was increased and chemerin DNA methylation was decreased in boys born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy, suggesting a possible reason for why these children have a greater risk for becoming obese, according to findings recently published in Experimental Physiology.

NEW YORK — CMV infection is the most common congenital infection in newborns, and it causes hearing loss in approximately 20% of all infants who become infected. Shannon A. Ross, MD, MSPH, associate professor of infectious diseases at Children’s of Alabama, told Infectious Diseases in Children that there has been “increasing interest” among parents and physicians to screen all infants for CMV.

Infants born via elective cesarean section were at higher risk for overweight at 12 months of age vs. those born vaginally, according to findings recently published in JAMA Network Open. However, infants born via emergency cesarean section, demonstrated no such risk.

ORLANDO — Although hospitals in the United States provided more breastfeeding support to their employees between 2007 and 2015, less than 2% of respondents offered all seven breastfeeding supports included in a CDC survey of the hospitals, according to a presentation at the AAP National Conference & Exhibition.

Parents who suck on their infant’s pacifier to clean it may suppress immunoglobulin E, or IgE, levels in their child during infancy, according to research presented at the American College for Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting.

Gestational diabetes, one of the many health consequences caused by obesity can affect up to 10% of pregnancies in the U.S. each year, according to the CDC.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Approximately 25% of pregnant women infected with hepatitis B received a prescription for antiviral therapy, according to research presented at the AAP National Conference & Exhibition. Gastroenterologists and hepatologists were more likely to prescribe these medications compared with physicians specializing in maternal and fetal medicine or infectious disease, researchers said.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Young children with acute diarrhea were more likely to have reduced frequency and duration of stools when they were administered bovine colostrum in combination with standard therapy, according to research presented at the AAP National Conference & Exhibition. Researchers said these results were also observed when children had rotavirus and Escherichia coli infection.