The results of an autopsy study indicate that in about 10 percent of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) cases, the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus can be found in normally sterile sites.
As reported in the September 11th online issue of the Archives of Disease in Childhood, Dr. P. N. Goldwater, from The Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide, Australia, reviewed the autopsy records of 130 infants who died from SIDS, 32 with sudden unexpected death (SUDI) from infection, and 33 who died from a non-infectious cause such as an accident.
The researcher found that infants who died from a non-infectious cause rarely had bacteria growing at normally sterile body sites. By contrast, SIDS and SUDI infants often had microbes, including potential pathogens, present in these sterile sites.
Regarding S. aureus, 10,76 percent of SIDS infants and 18,75 percent of SUDI infants were found to harbour the microbe in a normally sterile site. The bacteria were not found in cases of accidental death.
No statically significant difference in the detection of sterile site coliform bacteria was noted in SIDS infants compared with the other groups, the author writes. Coliform bacteria, found the lower intestinal track and subsequently in feces, are use as an index for sewage contamination. The sterile site microbes yielded no growth in 45,4 percent of accidental death cases, 43 percent of SIDS cases, and 28,1 percent of SUDI cases.
The results suggest that microbes isolated in SIDS babies may play a role in death, the author concludes.