Affiliations: Servicio de Bacteriología Clínica,
Departamento de Bacteriología, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades
Infecciosas-ANLIS, "Dr. Carlos G. Malbrán", Buenos Aires, Argentina | Cátedra de Microbiología, Facultad de
Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires,
Argentina | Hospital Municipal "Dr. C. Argerich", Buenos Aires, Argentina
Note: [] Correspondence: Marta Mollerach, Ph.D., Cátedra de
Microbiología, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de
Buenos Aires Junín 956, 1113 Buenos Aires, Argentina. Tel.: +54 11 4964
8285; Fax: +54 11 4964 8274; E-mail: mmollera@ffyb.uba.ar
Abstract: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a rarely recognized cause of neonatal
sepsis. A case of early-onset neonatal sepsis due to penicillin susceptible
pneumococci and maternal endometritis is herein described. A male infant was
born at 33 weeks of gestation. The baby developed S. pneumoniae
bacteraemia and recovered completely following treatment with antibiotics. Four
days after partum, the mother was readmitted with fever. S. pneumoniae
was recovered from an endometrial sample. Isolates from mother and child were
both serogroup 1 and confirmed to be identical on the basis of BOX-polymerase
chain reaction typing and pulse-field gel electrophoresis. Perinatal
transmission of S. pneumoniae had probably occurred due to ascending
infection from the maternal genital tract.
Keywords: Streptococcus pneumoniae, neonatal sepsis, box-typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, endometritis
