Mom's bacteria

[ThinkGutBacteria]

Here's an interesting article in Slate magazine showing the importance of the maternal vaginal microbial population

 

What’s in Your Vagina?

A healthy microbiome, hopefully.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/01/microbial_balance_in_vagina_miscarriage_infertility_pre_term_birth_linked.html

 

Snippet:

In 2008, scientists following a cohort of nearly 1,100 Boston mothers and their children announced that premature birth increased the risk of wheezing at 6 years of age by 70 percent. The real kicker emerged when they separated children of mothers who had suffered from chorioamnionitis during pregnancy. For those children, the risk of asthma was more than four times as high. A Finnish group has since replicated the finding among 15-to-17-year-olds, implying that the consequences of prenatal inflammation persist into adolescence and probably adulthood.