Abstract 1603 Poster Session II, Sunday, 5/2 (poster 103)

Introduction: Group B streptococci (GBS) are an important cause of early onset neonatal sepsis and infection-associated pulmonary hypertension. GBS hyaluronidase (HYL), which can degrade hyaluronan as well as unsulfated regions of chondroitin sulfate, is an extracellular GBS protein that may contribute to strain invasiveness and thereby virulence. Hypothesis: Strains of GBS which express HYL are more invasive in a neonatal animal model. Method: A strain of GBS expressing HYL (Wild type) was identified and a strain of GBS without HYL (mutant) was created by insertional mutagenesis. Neonatal rat pups (<24 hours) were intratracheally inoculated with either the wild type (n=17) or the mutant GBS (n=17) and sacrificed six hours later. Blood was collected and organs were weighted. Blood and homogenized organs were plated at logarithmic dilutions, and GBS colony counts were performed 24 hours after plating, as a semi-quantitative measure of GBS invasiveness.

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