In recent years, celebs like January Jones and Kim Kardashian have been raving about the benefits of ingesting their own placentas post-birth. But can eating your placenta make your baby sick" It?s possible. Last fall, one woman?s baby became ill with group B strep after she took placental capsules after birth.
Late last month, paediatric infectious disease specialist Genevieve Buser and her colleagues at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Oregon published an account of the baby?s illness in the Center of Disease Control and Prevention?s weekly Morbidity and Mortality report.
Group B Streptococcus is a strain of bacteria many women carry in their intestines, vaginas and rectums that is typically harmless, explains Buser. But when a baby passes through the birth canal and is exposed to this bacteria, it can make them seriously ill because their immune system is immature. The complications are potentially serious and can include sepsis (a blood infection), pneumonia and meningitis. Women are typically tested for group B strep (GBS) at 37 weeks and, if they?re found to be positive, they?re given antibiotics during delivery to reduce the chance of passing it on to their baby. In this case, the mother tested negative at 37 weeks, but the baby became ill shortly after birth and was treated for GBS. This is fairly normal?the status of the bacteria can change between 37 weeks and when the baby is born?but what had the doctors scratching their heads was that, after bei...