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NPR Visits Inova to Document Infant-Health Research Study

Varsha Deopujari, Clinical Lead, swabs the first newborn involved in Inova’s vaginal seeding research on August 3, 2018 at Inova Fairfax Hospital | Photo credit: Inova

Inova’s vaginal seeding study featured on NPR’s Morning Edition

Dr. Suchitra K. Hourigan is leading the vaginal seeding research study at Inova

NPR’s Morning Edition has profiled the groundbreaking vaginal seeding study at Inova Women’s Hospital that aims to discover if babies born by C-section will benefit from a swab of their mother’s microbes.

The article explains how vaginal seeding “was developed in response to the sharp rise in C-section births in recent years… [which] has been accompanied by more cases of asthma, allergies, eczema, obesity, and other diseases.”

The researchers believe part of the problem could be “because babies aren’t getting exposed to their mother’s microbes the way they would if they were passing naturally through the birth canal.”

The article features Suchitra K. Hourigan, MD, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Inova, and follows the recent experience of a couple from Northern Virginia who allowed NPR to witness their child’s birth and their participation in the vaginal seeding swab.

Read the article on npr.org: Doctors Test Bacterial Smear After Cesarean Sections To Bolster Babies’ Microbiomes

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