An Australian study has recently revealed that bacterial infections may be a cause, one which has not been taken into account by doctors so far, of sudden infant death syndrome. After examining the post-mortem reports of 130 infants who had died of SIDS, researchers went on to analyze bacterial samples collected from the babies’ sterile sites such as heart blood, spleen or cerebrospinal fluid and found that infections on these sites were present in 20% of the babies that had suddenly died due to an infection. Sterile sites should normally be free of infections.

A bacterium that can produce lethal toxins called Staphylococcus aureus has been reported as the one to have caused the infections.

The study, which was published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, showed that bacteria could give rise to a chemical storm that the infant’s body cannot handle, this leading to a sudden death.

Although the official death rate due to SIDS, which is classified as a natural cause of death, from the National Centers for Health Statistics is only 0.5%, some studies suggest that the real rate is actually much higher.

There are a number of things parents can do to reduce the risk of their child dying of SIDS, including not smoking during or after pregnancy, breastfeeding, putting the baby to sleep on his back, but the grim truth is that even a perfectly healthy baby can suffer from SIDS and die in his sleep. Nevertheless, scientists have been and are still going to great lengths and making large efforts to find highly effective methods to prevent SIDS.