Necrotizing Enterocolitis News and Research

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Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a life-threatening condition that manifests as inflammation of the intestines. This devastating disease affects mostly premature babies, who account for up to 8 out of every 10 cases. In NEC, bacteria invade the intestinal wall. The resulting local infection and inflammation lead to the destruction of the intestinal lining, even through its entire thickness.

Pre-term infants fed with B. Infantis experienced lower level of intestinal inflammation

Researchers publishing in the peer-review journal Frontiers in Pediatrics report that pre-term infants fed Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis (activated B. infantis EVC001) experienced significantly lower level of intestinal inflammation, 62% less diaper rash, and required 62% fewer antibiotics- all of which are critical health indicators in neonatal care.

17 Feb 2021

Researchers identify the missing link between intestinal disease and brain injury in premature infants

Physicians have long known that necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a potentially lethal inflammatory condition that destroys a premature infant's intestinal lining, is often connected to the development of severe brain injury in those infants who survive.

6 Jan 2021

Mother's diet while breastfeeding can shape the profile of human milk oligosaccharides

Research has shown that human milk is the optimal nutrition source for neonates and infants. It confers protection against both immediately life-threatening infant diseases such as necrotizing enterocolitis, as well as later onset diseases in adults, like obesity, diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease.

16 Dec 2020

New technology to diagnose fatal disease in preemies granted FDA's Breakthrough Device Designation

A technology to diagnose a potentially fatal disease in premature infants invented by Sunyoung Kim, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, has been granted a Breakthrough Device Designation by the Food and Drug Administration.

16 Nov 2020

Specific genes of infant gut bacterium determine its symbiotic function in the infant's gut

While an infant's genes distinguish her from other newborns, a new peer-reviewed study reports that specific genes of a particular infant gut bacterium determine its symbiotic function in the infant's gut.

28 Oct 2020

Expanded screening method can help detect life-threatening complications in preterm babies

Expanding routine newborn screening to include a metabolic vulnerability profile could lead to earlier detection of life-threatening complications in babies born preterm, according to a study by UC San Francisco researchers.

7 Oct 2020

Study: Antibiotics have prolonged effects on breast milk microbiota in mothers of preterm infants

A team led by researchers at the University of Toronto and The Hospital for Sick Children has found that mothers of preterm babies have highly individual breast milk microbiomes, and that even short courses of antibiotics have prolonged effects on the diversity and abundance of microbes in their milk.

3 Sep 2020

Choosing the best milk fortifiers can lead to improved health outcomes in premature babies

More than 380,000 babies are born prematurely in the United States each year, according to the March of Dimes.

13 Aug 2020

Researchers develop machine learning tool to predict necrotizing enterocolitis in premature infants

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a life-threatening intestinal disease of prematurity. Characterized by sudden and progressive intestinal inflammation and tissue death, it affects up to 11,000 premature infants in the United States annually, and 15-30% of affected babies die from NEC.

11 Aug 2020

Antenatal treatment can improve outcomes in preterm children

Extremely preterm children have very low birth weights, underdeveloped organs, and risks of long-term problems or disabilities.

14 Jul 2020

Probiotics are not recommended for most digestive conditions

It is estimated that more than 3.9 million American adults have taken some form of probiotics, with many patients looking to probiotics to improve their gastrointestinal health.

9 Jun 2020

New preclinical study shows promise for treating necrotizing enterocolitis

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a rare inflammatory bowel disease, primarily affects premature infants and is a leading cause of death in the smallest and sickest of these patients.

6 May 2020

Immune systems of preemies can catch up

According to a new study published in March 2020 in the journal Nature Communications, babies born prematurely up to 32 weeks of pregnancy can quickly catch up on their immune system function after birth, bringing them to a state comparable to term infants.

9 Mar 2020

Association between HMO concentrations and infant weight, body composition

Breastfeeding affects infant growth and, researchers have found, helps prevent obesity, both in childhood and later in life. However, the components of breast milk responsible for these beneficial effects remain mostly a mystery.

18 Feb 2020

Award to help advance development of diagnostic test for necrotizing enterocolitis

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health has awarded Chosen Diagnostics Inc, a spin-out company, a $299,641 Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer award.

9 Dec 2019

Study finds reliable biomarker for noninvasive detection of deadly infant disease

A diagnostic study of 136 premature infants found that a protein involved in managing harmful bacteria in the human intestine is a reliable biomarker for the noninvasive detection of necrotizing enterocolitis.

8 Nov 2019

Newborn mouse model yields clues to cause of devastating gut disease in anemic preemies

Physicians have long suspected that red blood cell transfusions given to premature infants with anemia may put them in danger of developing necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC, a potentially lethal inflammatory disease of the intestines.

From Johns Hopkins Medicine 13 Aug 2019

Growth problems in preterm infants associated with altered gut bacteria

A team of researchers at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago found that extremely premature babies fail to grow while others develop normally due to certain metabolic differences triggered by specific gut microbiome alterations.

10 Jul 2019

New initiative to increase mothers' ability to provide milk for very low birth weight infants

Researchers at Boston Medical Center initiated a statewide quality improvement imitative to increase mothers' ability to produce and provide milk for very low birth weight infants at their discharge, as well reduce the racial/ethnic disparities in milk production and provision to these infants.

20 Jun 2019

Breastmilk antibody necessary to prevent necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants

A new study from the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh finds that an antibody in breastmilk is necessary to prevent necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC)- an often deadly bacterial disease of the intestine-in preterm infants.

17 Jun 2019