ACOG

Newborn dies after mother drinks raw milk during pregnancy

A newborn baby has died in New Mexico from a Listeria infection that state health officials say was likely contracted from raw (unpasteurized) milk that the baby’s mother drank during pregnancy.

In a news release Tuesday, officials warned people not to consume any raw dairy, highlighting that it can be teeming with a variety of pathogens. Those germs are especially dangerous to pregnant women, as well as young children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems.

“Raw milk can contain numerous disease-causing germs, including Listeria, which is bacteria that can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm birth, or fatal infection in newborns, even if the mother is only mildly ill,” the New Mexico Department of Health said in the press release.

The health department noted that it could not definitively link the baby’s death to the raw milk the mother drank. But raw milk is notorious for transmitting Listeria monocytogenes bacterium. The Food and Drug Administration has a “Food Safety for Moms-to-Be” webpage about Listeria, in which it poses the question and answer: “How could I get listeriosis? You can get listeriosis by eating raw, unpasteurized milk and unpasteurized milk products… .”

Listeria is a particular danger during pregnancy. When exposed, pregnant people are 10 times more likely to develop a Listeria infection than other healthy adults because altered immune responses during pregnancy make it harder to fight off infections. Further, Listeria is one of a few pathogens that are able to cross the placental barrier and infect a developing fetus.

Vaginal condition treatment update: Men should get treated, too

ACOG, bacterial vaginosis, dysbiosis, health, microbiota, partners / Beth Washington / October 18, 2025

For some cases of bacterial vaginosis, treatment should include a package deal, doctors now say.

The American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG) updated its clinical guidance Friday to fit with recent data indicating that treatment for recurring bacterial vaginosis (BV) in women is significantly more effective if their male partners are also treated at the same time—with both an oral antibiotic and an antibiotic cream directly onto the potentially offending member.

“Partner therapy offers us another avenue for hopefully preventing recurrence and helping people feel better faster,” Christopher Zahn, chief of clinical practice and health equity and quality at ACOG, said in a statement.

BV is a common condition affecting nearly 30 percent of women worldwide. Still, it’s potentially stigmatizing and embarrassing, with symptoms including itching, burning, a concerning fishy smell, and vaginal discharge that can be green or gray. With symptoms like this, BV is often described as an infection—but it’s actually not. BV is an imbalance in the normal bacterial communities that inhabit the vagina—a situation called dysbiosis.

This imbalance can be especially difficult to correct; of the women who suffer with BV, up to 66 percent will end up having the condition recur after treatment.

BV symptoms are “incredibly uncomfortable and disrupt people’s daily lives,” Zahn said, and that discomfort “becomes compounded by frustration when this condition comes back repeatedly.”

Firm recommendation

Studies in recent years have started to expose the reasons behind recurrence. Though again, BV is an imbalance, it has the profile of a sexually transmitted infection, with links to new sexual partners and similar incubation periods. Going further, microbial communities of penises can silently harbor the bacterial species linked to BV, and penile microbial communities can be predictive of BV risk in partners.

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