Taking A Look At Baby's First Biofilm

ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2008) — A sludgy substance seen on the ultrasound images of about 15 percent of pregnancies is in fact a bacterial biofilm in the amniotic fluid, according to the USC School of Dentistry’s resident expert on the slimy structures.

The findings appear in the January cover story of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, of which J. William Costerton, professor of research in the School of Dentistry and director of the Center for Biofilms, is an author.

“Doctors kept seeing this stuff on the ultrasound and we wanted to figure out what it was,” Costerton said. “We suspected it was bacteria but didn’t know for sure.”

Science Daily