Research Projects

Infections in newborns are very common in our region and most of them occur within the first week of life. It is likely that the bacteria (germs) that cause infections in the newborn are acquired from the mother’s genital tract. Thus this study will find out those. This will help the clinicians in deciding intervention strategy (what medicine to be given, any other preventive measures to be taken). Previous studies have shown that prophylactic antibiotic treatment (giving of medicine) based on microbiological screening have reduced deaths from early onset neonatal bacterial infection. But there may many germs colonizing the maternal genital tract and that may cause neonatal infections. Therefore, the overall aim of this study will be to screen pregnant women for those pathogens that can be transmitted to the newborn and has the potential for causing infections in them. This study will therefore benefit the pregnant as well as the neonate.