Exposure
to C. difficile in infancy produces an immune response that might protect
against this gastrointestinal infection later in childhood.
Researchers
found that infants who were naturally exposed to C. difficile in the
environment and became colonized with the bacteria had antibodies in their
blood. Analyses using a state-of-the-art assay revealed that these antibodies
neutralized toxins that cause C. difficile infection, preventing harmful
effects to cells exposed to these toxins. This suggests that a natural
immunization occurs, although future studies will need to determine if it would
prevent illness years later after another C. difficile exposure.
C.
difficile is a frequent cause of community- and healthcare-associated infection
in adults and children. While roughly half of all infants get exposed, they
normally do not get sick from these bacteria. Older children and adults usually
get diarrhea that needs to be treated by antibiotics. A more severe form of the
infection may cause inflammation of the colon that requires surgery and could
be fatal. Children tend to have milder symptoms than adults. The pediatric
incidence of C. difficile infection peaks in the 1-to-4-year age group and
during teenage years.
See:
Larry K Kociolek, Robyn O Espinosa, Dale N Gerding, Alan R Hauser, Egon A Ozer, Maria Budz, Aakash Balaji, Xinhua Chen, Robert R Tanz, Nazli Yalcinkaya, Margaret E Conner, Tor Savidge, Ciaran P Kelly. Natural Clostridioides difficile toxin immunization in colonized infants. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2019; DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciz582
Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle, Pharmaceutical Microbiology
The gut of a newly born baby had sterile. But, a infant naturally immunized from the first breast feeding by the beneficial bacteria from mother nipple. From your article I know that Children might be naturally immunized after C. difficile colonization. That for this article.
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