Advances in Neonatal Pathogen Infection

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Medical Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 448

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Neonatology and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, AO San Giovanni-Addolorata, 00184 Rome, Italy
Interests: neonatal infections; antibiotic therapy in newborns; diagnosis of neonatal infection; infectious screening; congenital infections
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Guest Editor
Division of Neonatology, Department of Translational Medical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Naples, Italy
Interests: neonatal congenital infections; antimicrobial stewardship; diagnosis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, infections in the neonatal population became an emergent topic, based on the increase in multi-resistant pathogens, particularly in hospitalized and premature babies. This is probably due to the misuse of antibiotics, and special attention must be paid to their careful use and antimicrobial stewardship.

Furthermore, viral infections remain a concern in these patients. In fact, the emergence of new viruses (the best known in recent decades are Zika virus and coronaviruses) and the availability of new prophylactic drugs (such as nirsevimab for respiratory syncytial virus) or steps forward in developing new vaccines (such as the CMV vaccine) have led and will lead to changes in neonatal epidemiology. Finally, recently, much attention has been paid to fungal infections in specific neonatal groups, such as patients who undergo surgery.

This special issue will present new epidemiological data on bacterial, viral and fungal infections in neonates, as well as studies on their prevention and treatment and intriguing clinical cases of infections not previously described.

Dr. Vito Mondı̀
Dr. Serena Salomè
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • neonatal infection
  • epidemiology
  • therapy
  • prevention
  • antimicrobial stewardship
  • bacteria
  • fungi
  • viruses

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 1955 KB  
Article
Microbiological Safety of Donor Human Milk: Comparing Culture-Based Methods for Enterobacterales Detection
by Lena Dawczynski, Nora Helke Leder, Sabine Trommer, Frank Kipp and Claudia Stein
Microorganisms 2025, 13(10), 2259; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms13102259 - 26 Sep 2025
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Abstract
In neonatal care, donor human milk (DHM) is used when maternal milk is unavailable or insufficient. In several countries, including Germany, raw (i.e., unpasteurised) DHM is occasionally administered under specific clinical conditions. However, the lack of standardised, evidence-based microbiological testing protocols raises concerns [...] Read more.
In neonatal care, donor human milk (DHM) is used when maternal milk is unavailable or insufficient. In several countries, including Germany, raw (i.e., unpasteurised) DHM is occasionally administered under specific clinical conditions. However, the lack of standardised, evidence-based microbiological testing protocols raises concerns about the reliability of safety assessments for this high-risk patient group. The objective of this study was to assess the performance of four culture-based microbiological methods for detecting Enterobacterales in donor human milk, using both spiked samples and raw milk. We compared the detection limits of four culture-based microbiological methods, with and without enrichment, using spiked DHM samples and 93 raw DHM samples from a single donor (limited generalisation). Artificially inoculated samples contained defined concentrations of E. coli, K. pneumoniae, and S. ureilytica. Detection limits varied by several orders of magnitude (2.86 × 102 CFU/mL to 4.90 × 100 CFU/mL). In real samples, enrichment-based methods detected Gram-negative pathogens in four out of ninety-three samples (three S. ureilytica, one P. juntendi); direct plating detected none. Increasing the sample volume and applying enrichment improved detection sensitivity. Whole-genome sequencing confirmed species identity and showed that the S. ureilytica isolates from a single donor were clonally related, indicating a recurring detection pattern and underscoring the need for longitudinal microbiological monitoring. In view of the new EU SoHO Regulation classifying DHM as a Substance of Human Origin, these findings highlight the urgent need for standardised, sensitive protocols to ensure neonatal safety. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Neonatal Pathogen Infection)
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