Mother’s milk delivered naturally through breastfeeding has been the sole source of infant nutrition in mammalian species for millions of years. Since human beings learned to domesticate cattle about 10,000 years ago, nonhuman mammalian milk also has been used to…
The human fetus and neonate are unduly susceptible to infection with a wide variety of microbes, many of which are not pathogenic in more mature individuals. This susceptibility results from limitations of both innate and adaptive (antigen-specific) immunity and their…
Overview Obstetric infections remain an important and potentially preventable contributor to maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Intraamniotic infection (IAI) is associated with 20% of all preterm births (PTBs) and 50% of extreme PTBs at 28 weeks of gestation or…
Acknowledgment The authors are grateful to Dr. Danyal Thaver for excellent assistance with article references and editing of this chapter. Among the greatest challenges in global public health are to eliminate the gaps between high- and low-income countries in health…
Overview Current concepts of pathogenesis, microbiology, diagnosis, and management of infections of the fetus and newborn are reviewed in this chapter with the goal of providing a brief synthesis and overview. Information within this chapter regarding specific infections or syndromes…
What Is Bacteremia? Human blood is supposed to be a sterile environment. Bacteremia is defined as the presence and detection of bacteria in blood. The body has several defense mechanisms against this, mainly barrier and immunologic defenses. There are several…
Introduction Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in the United States has evolved over the past three decades from an untreatable illness that predictably led to death to a chronic disease that can be medically managed, with life expectancy for many…
Introduction Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) contribute to the majority of reportable communicable diseases worldwide. More than a million STIs are acquired every day worldwide, with an estimated 357 million new infections annually with gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, or trichomoniasis. Furthermore, there…
Introduction Sepsis is among the oldest medical conditions described, yet remains a leading cause of death. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 1.5 million people in the United States are affected each year, with a resulting 250,000…
Introduction Vector-borne infections include diseases caused by diverse pathogens (bacteria, viruses, parasites) that are transmitted to humans by a variety of vectors such as ticks, mosquitoes, lice, tsetse flies, sandflies, triatome bugs, blackflies, mites, and snails. Vectors are typically blood-sucking…