Question

A 28-year-old pregnant woman went into premature labor. She had been experiencing symptoms of a fever, headache, and back pain. Upon delivery, the infant was in respiratory distress. CSF and blood cultures were collected from the infant with the following results:

CSF Gram Stain: Gram-positive coccobacilli
CSF Culture: small, gray, beta-hemolytic colonies
Catalase: positive
H2S: negative
Motility: positive umbrella growth
Esculin hydrolysis: positive

In your discussion post, discuss the following criteria: What organism is most likely to have caused the premature labor and infection?

What is the mode of transmission of this organism? In other words, how did the pregnant woman become exposed, and subsequently, her infant infected?

Answer 1

The most possible organism which contracted the woman might be E.Coli.Organisms that are normally found in the lower genital tract present in the amniotic fluid,placenta and membranes constitute the preterm labour. Poverty ,lack of education,living in disadvantaged area,lack of acess to prenatal care,genetic,history of previous spontaneous preterm birth ,non white race,genital tract infections,multigestation,second-trimester bleeding,low prepregnancy weight all provide positive environment for developing infection.The urinary tract is the most common site of E.Coli infection