It is not uncommon for a woman to experience premature
breaking of her water during pregnancy. However, when this does occur, it is
not taken lightly as there are often serious long-term health effects for both
the mother and the child. According to Amy P. Murtha, M.D. at Duke University
School of Medicine, new research is suggesting that having a high presence of
bacteria can play a key role in these events. Their research has demonstrated
that high levels of bacteria in the chorion part of the fetal membrane, causes
it to become frail and very thin. When the membrane becomes this consistency,
there is no possible way for it to stay completely strong, causing a major
rupture and ultimately leading to the fluids to leak out. In their recent
studies, they tested to see which ones if not all membranes had bacteria levels
correlating with the thinning of the cell layers. They weren’t all that
surprised at what they found; the amount of bacteria in the membranes with
rupture sites were far higher, but there was varying amounts of bacteria in all
of the membranes. The researches are now working to discover exactly what types
of bacterium are found in the premature water breakage patients, versus the
ones found in regular patients.
I thought this article was interesting because when you hear
about this happening to someone, the first thing that you think isn’t, ‘oh, it
must be the bacteria floating around inside them doing this to them.’ It never
ceased to amaze me what these microscopic things are capable of.
Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140109003756.htm
Image:https://www.google.com/search?q=water+breaking&client=firefox-a&hs=JYK&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=fflb&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ei=QEIhU562FYGhqwH45YHICA&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg&biw=1280&bih=564#channel=fflb&q=water+breaking+cartoon&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=H2Jt1bMQ1fsVXM%253A%3B0IdflrLLR1l7gM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fskreened.com%252Frender-product%252Fg%252Fa%252Fk%252Fgakgkkqngonaykubgpsh%252Fimage.w174h200f3.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fskreened.com%252Fkidlings%252Fwater-breaker%3B174%3B200
That's pretty insane that microbes can play a role in premature water breakage. It doesn't exactly surprise me, but it makes me wonder what other things in our body that are "abnormal" are because of microbes. If researchers can figure out what bacteria is causing this, and what is present, then they may be able to prevent it from happening. It seems they still have a lot more research and work to do before they get there. For babies that were born due to a premature water breakage, I wonder if their microbes differ from those of a normal child? Do they contract the same microbes from their mother, that caused her to have this early water breakage? That makes me wonder about the role microbes play in children with birth defects. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI guess our lives really do depend on bacteria. They determine whether we are healthy or not. Whether we are born premature and many other things. It amazes me how something so small plays such a huge role in our lives and we don't even notice it. When something bad happens in our bodies we usually blame it on something from the outside, but the culprit could be living on the inside. I wonder if it's certain bacteria that causes the water to break early or if it's just the amount of any given bacteria. Does it work the other way around as well? For example a mother who isn't going into labor when she should be? Could this mean she has less bacteria or different bacteria?
ReplyDeleteThese microbes have to do with basically everything in the human body! Well, except the brain and a few other parts of the body that we learned about. But who knows, new research could prove even these to have to do something with microbes. Back to your blog… This is very interesting because like you pointed out in your blog, bacteria don’t even come to mind thinking about someone’s water breaking! Little did I know they basically could have everything to do with someone’s water breaking! It would definitely be interesting to find out and hear about what bacteria are causing this? And if and when they do find out, could that mean a possible helpful “remedy” to premature “water breakings?” If so, that would be a great find because of the serious long-term health affects the mother and child could experience with premature “water breaking.” This would mean no premature “water breakings” and a safer deliverance for the baby and the mother. First things first though, we have to find out what those bacteria are!
ReplyDelete-Angelo V.
This was an awesome blog. I really enjoyed reading this :)
ReplyDeleteWhy did you enjoy this blog? What about it was interesting to you? Did you make a connection to something you've learned, or were interested in??
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