An Action Medical Research team at Imperial College, London thinks they may have tracked down one of the reasons why about 8,000 babies are born prematurely every year in the UK.
Bacterium believed to be the culprit
The culprit believed to be a bacterium, and if the team can prove it is a common cause of pre-term labour, then doctors can start to consider the use of treatments specifically to prevent its growth, potentially benefiting thousands of mothers and their newborn babies every year.
Their new two-year study continues on from a previous Action Medical Research funded project, in which modern molecular biology techniques were used to visualize and identify bacteria in the foetal membranes.
"Bacteria are quite commonly found within the womb; sometimes they are harmful and sometimes not. We're not clear on how they develop, but we have isolated one particular bacterium - Fusobacterium nucleatum - which appears to be a troublemaker.
"We're studying the effects of this bacterium on foetal membranes, which are donated with the full consent of parents following birth, and this allows us to create a model of what may happen in pregnancy and pre-term labour."
Dr Sullivan from the Imperial College team
