Neonates Colonized With Pathogenic Bacteria in the Airways Have a Low-Grade Systemic Inflammation

Purpose of the Study: To analyze systemic inflammation in neonates in which Moraxella catarrhalis, Haemophilus influenza, and/or Streptococcus pneumoniae colonized in the upper airways. Study Population: Neonates from 2 ongoing clinical mother-child cohorts from Zealand, Denmark, were included. The high-risk cohort, COPSAC2000, included 411 children of mothers with asthma. COPSAC2010 is a population-based cohort that enrolled 700 children. Methods: Airway aspirates were sampled and nasopharyngeal swabs were collected in asymptomatic neonates at the age of 1 month from the at-risk cohort. Airway aspirates were collected at 1 and 3 months in the population-based cohort. Aspirates were cultured and quantified by polymerase chain reaction for identification of M catarrhalis, H influenza, and S pneumoniae. At the age of 6 months, plasma levels of C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor α, and interleukin-6 were measured to study systemic inflammation. Results: Bacterial colonization was associated with increased levels of C-reactive protein in both cohorts. Children colonized with M catarrhalis, H influenza, and/or S pneumoniae in the hypopharynx were found to have a systemic inflammatory profile when compared with noncolonized children. Conclusions: The researchers found that low-grade systemic inflammation is present in the hypopharynx of asymptomatic neonates colonized with M catarrhalis, H influenza, and/or S pneumoniae.