Sudden Infant Death Linked by Doctors to Bacterial Infections

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Sudden Infant Death Linked by Doctors to Bacterial Infections By Chantal Britt May 30 (Bloomberg) -- Bacterial infection may play a role in some cases of sudden and unexpected deaths of babies, according to an article published in the Lancet medical journal. Researchers from the U.K. found increased levels of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli bacteria during autopsies in otherwise unexplained fatal cases, called sudden unexpected death in infancy, or SUDI. The condition is known as sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, in the U.S., and as SUDI, or cot death, in the U.K. and Australia. Sudden infant death is one of the most common causes of babies dying in developed countries, killing 2,500 each year in the U.S. and thousands more globally. Infections have been a suggested cause, although other risk factors include passive smoke, overheating, tummy sleeping and soft beds. ``We found that significantly more organisms that were potentially pathogenic were isolated from infants, whose sudden, unexpected death couldn't be explained, than from infants whose death was of non-infective cause,'' said Weber from the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London. SUDI includes cases where a review of the death scene and a post-mortem examination will disclose a cause of death. The large unexplained majority is usually classified as sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS. Weber

reviewed autopsies of 546 infants who died suddenly and unexpectedly between 1996 and 2005. Specialist pediatric pathologists did the autopsies and minimized contamination during sampling. Infection Links As many as 19 percent of the unexplained cases of SUDI may have been due to E. coli or S. aureus, or other pathogenic bacteria without an obvious focus of infection. The researchers found these pathogens in 24 percent of deaths diagnosed as bacterial infection and in 11 percent of cases explained by non- infective causes such as accidents or heart disease. Sixteen percent of samples from infants whose death was unexplained contained S. aureus, with 6 percent containing E. coli, significantly more than the 9 percent and 1 percent respectively in children whose deaths were of non-infective cause. These differences suggest that infection with these bacteria could be associated with unexplained cases of SUDI. Bacteria such

as S. aureus and E. coli could produce toxins which may affect the infant, Weber said. The bacteria may also be a by-product of another illness, such as overheating or impaired infant arousal responses, which are linked to death and may predispose the children to bacterial growth, Weber said. ``Although the reasons for this are unclear, our findings suggest that microbes or microbial products could be related to the pathogenesis of a proportion of unexplained SUDI,'' Weber wrote in the paper. ``We must now investigate the pathophysiological mechanism involved in these cases.'' To contact the reporter on this story: Chantal Britt at cbritt@.... Last Updated: May 29, 2008 19:01 EDT http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085 & sid=aMgYaPUmBflA & refer=europe