Research
Vaccinating moms before they give birth saves their babies from dangerous infections
Earth.com · By Eric Ralls ·
The Brief
- Newborns have almost no immune defenses of their own.
- The bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae kills thousands of newborns every year in low- and middle-income countries.
- Klebsiella resists a growing list of antibiotics, and no Klebsiella vaccine currently exists.
Why it matters
Infections in newborns caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria are hard to treat, so a way to protect babies before birth could matter for global neonatal health.
Who’s affected
- newborns and expectant mothers in low- and middle-income countries
- neonatal and maternal health researchers
- public health workers and vaccine developers
- #klebsiella
- #maternal vaccination
- #neonatal infections
- #antibiotic resistance
- #vaccines
Newborns arrive with almost no immune defenses of their own. A bacterium called Klebsiella pneumoniae kills thousands of them every year in low- and middle-income countries. It resists a growing list of antibiotics, and no Klebsiella vaccine exists. So researchers vaccinated the…