Parental and infant ampicillin resistant enterobacterales colonization was 91 and 76 percent<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n
TUESDAY, Feb. 24, 2026 (HealthDay News) — A considerable proportion of pregnant women are colonized with enterobacterales with ampicillin (AmpR-E) and ceftriaxone resistance (CefR-E) in the United States, according to a study published in the January issue of the Open Forum Infectious Diseases<\/em>.<\/p>\n Leena B. Mithal, M.D., from the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, and colleagues estimated the rate of gut colonization of AmpR-E and CefR-E in healthy birthing parent-infant dyads in Chicago and examined the genetic characteristics of CefR-E in pregnant women anticipating vaginal birth from two hospitals. Overall, 293 parent and 261 infant samples were collected from the dyads.<\/p>\n The researchers found that parental and infant AmpR-E colonization was 91 and 76 percent, respectively, while the rate of parental and infant CefR-E colonization was 12 and 7 percent, respectively. Estimated perinatal CefR-E transmission was 17 percent. The only clinical variable significantly associated with parental CefR-E colonization was race (higher for Asians, lower for White race). Significant associations were seen for birthing parent age and type of infant nutrition (breastmilk) with decreased infant AmpR-E colonization. Based on whole-genome sequencing, 38 percent of the CefR-E isolates were Escherichia coli<\/em>.<\/p>\n “Our finding that healthy pregnant people had a significant burden of these bacteria was surprising, as it was a much higher percentage than previously reported for high-income countries,” Mithal said in a statement. “It shows that this is truly a global problem with potential adverse impacts to neonatal health.”<\/p>\n