Maternal- Fetal Infection

Early-onset neonatal sepsis (EOS) is a major global public health challenge. Prevention during pregnancy and delivery, early diagnosis and treatment of perinatal infections are essential to avoid EOS. Risk factors for include prematurity, maternal Group B streptococcus (GBS) colonization, premature rupture of membranes (PROM), and chorioamnionitis. Screening and intrapartum antimicrobial prophylaxis administered to GBS-colonized women has reduced early onset GBS infections. However, other pathogens are frequently involved in EOS following preterm PROM and preterm birth (PTB), such as Gram-negative bacteria and Staphylococci, which are not covered by penicillin prophylaxis. The prevalence of neonatal infection arising from antibiotic-resistant bacteria is increasing, thus the challenge is to eliminate the widespread unnecessary use of broad-spectrum antibiotics to treat non-infected infants, while recognizing when antibiotics are truly needed. Rapid diagnostic test(s) to detect and quantify specifically pathogens in vaginal samples, could be a major breakthrough. Several rT- PCR ( reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests are on the market, however so far no test is able to detect, quantify and characterize in terms of antibiotic resistance and virulence genes, a range of pathogens. A novel multiplex platform, using microfluidics technology, is under development by Elvesys, Inc in France. This platform will be able to offer results within 15 minutes on-site. In addition, the study of the vaginal microbiome may identify signatures associated with a risk of maternal-fetal infection, particularly in case of PROM or PTB. Advanced sequencing technology and metagenomics will be used to characterize these signatures, and may lead to further markers to be included in the point-of-care test. Finally, biomarkers of inflammation will be detected, including IL-6 (Interleukin). In this study, the InSPIRe platform will be compared in the laboratory to conventional microbiological and immunological detection. Four groups of pregnant women will be recruited in prospective cohorts : uneventful pregnancies, term PROM, preterm labor and preterm PROM. The purpose of the InSPIRe project is to improve the prevention of perinatal bacterial infections, with the novel Elvesys point of care system to rapidly detect and characterize microorganisms responsible for neonatal sepsis from a single vaginal sample.