Review of characteristics for 48 neonatal GBS infection cases associated with contaminated breast milk (a)
| Case number (a) | Reference | Number of cases | Gestational age at birth | Age at infection/recurrence (days) | Blood-culture positivity for GBS in infant | CSF culture positivity for GBS in infant | Other sample cultures positive for GBS in infant | Sequelae | GBS isolate characteristics | Molecular typing method used to compare breast milk and neonate isolates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1* | 30 | 1 | PT | 10 | + | + | NS | S3GBS | x | |
| 2 | 27 | 1 | PT 27 weeks | 48/75/125 | +/ +/+ | −/ND/ND | No | Ia/c | PFGE | |
| 3–13 | 44 | 11 | 2 PT 9 T | NS | NS | NS | NS | GBS | x | |
| 14 | 36 | 1 | PT 33 weeks | 23 | + | − | No | S3GBS | x | |
| 15 | 26 | 4 | NS | 9 | NS | NS | Urine | NS | III/R | RFLP/ribotyping |
| 16 | NS | 5 | NS | − | Urine | NS | III/R | RFLP/ribotyping | ||
| 17 | NS | 19 | NS | + | NS | Ia/c | RFLP/ribotyping | |||
| 18 | NS | 11 | NS | NS | Articular pus | NS | III/R | RFLP/ribotyping | ||
| 19* | 33 | 1 | PT 31 weeks | 10/25 | +/+ | −/− | No | GBS | x | |
| 20 | 41 | 1 | PT 29 weeks | 74 | + | − | No | GBS | x | |
| 21* | 45 | 2 | PT 25 weeks | 44/60 | +/+ | −/− | NS | S3GBS | PFGE | |
| 22* | PT 28 weeks | 22 | + | + | NS | S3GBS | PFGE | |||
| 23 | 29 | 1 | T 39 weeks | 12 | + | − | Gastric fluid | Yes (b) | GBS | x |
| 24* | 38 | 2 | PT 31 weeks | 16/41 | +/+ | +/ND | No | S3GBS hylB | PFGE | |
| 25* | PT 31 weeks | 14 | + | − | No | S3GBS hylB | PFGE | |||
| 26 | 37 | 2 | T 38 weeks | 15/30 | +/+ | −/+ | No | S3GBS | PFGE | |
| 27 | T | 18 | + | − | Stools | No | S3GBS | PFGE | ||
| 28 | 32 | 1 | PT 30 weeks | 1/30 | +/+ | +/− | No | GBS | x | |
| 29 | 31 | 4 | T | 20/38 | +/+ | NS/NS | Oral swab | No | GBS | RAPD-PCR |
| 30* | PT 32 weeks | 40 | + | NS | Death | GBS | RAPD-PCR | |||
| 31* | PT 32 weeks | 42 | + | NS | No | GBS | RAPD-PCR | |||
| 32 | PT 33 weeks | 6 | + | + | Yes (c) | GBS | RAPD-PCR | |||
| 33 | 23 | 1 | NS | 1/42 | +/+ | −/+ | NS | GBS | x | |
| 34 | 34 | 1 | T | 26 | + | − | No | GBS | x | |
| 35 | 43 | 4 | T 39 weeks | 27 | + | + | Urine | No | S3GBS ST-17 | MLST |
| 36 | T | 2/29 | +/+ | ND/+ | −/Urine | No | S3GBS ST-17 | x | ||
| 37 | PT 30 weeks | 35 | + | − | No | S3GBS | x | |||
| 38 | T | 21 | + | + | Sputum | Death | S3GBS ST-17 | MLST | ||
| 39 | 39 | 1 | T | 60 | + | + | No | GBS | x | |
| 40 | 42 | 1 | PT 27 weeks | 25/42/63 | +/+/+ | NS | NS | GBS | PFGE | |
| 41* | 28 | 3 | PT 26 weeks | 12/63 | +/+ | −/− | No | S3GBS | x | |
| 42* | PT 26 weeks | 35 | + | + | No | S3GBS | x | |||
| 43* | PT 26 weeks | 33 | + | − | No | S3GBS | x | |||
| 44 | 25 | 1 | T 40 weeks | 12 | − | − | Urine, Breast fluid, Throat, Rectum | NS | Ib/c | x |
| 45 | 24 | 2 | T | 11 | NS | + | NS | GBS | x | |
| 46 | T | 30 | NS | + | NS | GBS | x | |||
| 47 | 40 | 1 | T 38 weeks | 1/14/28 | +/+/+ | −/−/− | No | GBS | PFGE | |
| 48 | 35 | 1 | T | 4/14 | +/+ | +/− | No | GBS | RAPD-PCR |
(a) Breast milk culture was positive for GBS in all cases except cases 14, 22 and 34 and at the time of the first episode of infection in case 21, for which GBS was detected in breast milk by PCR. (b) Severe neurological handicap. (c) Epilepsy.
*Indicates twins or triplets.
+, positive; −, negative; /, to separate data for the first episode of infection and for recurrence(s); x, the isolates were not genotyped; CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; GBS, group B Streptococcus; MLST, multilocus sequence typing; ND, not determined; NS, not specified; PFGE, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis; PT, preterm; RAPD-PCR, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA PCR; RFLP, restriction fragment length polymorphism of total DNA for which GBS was detected in breast milk by PCR; T, term.