ArticlePLOS global public health2026
Maternal microchimerism at birth associates with reduced odds of non-malarial fever and respiratory tract infections in Tanzanian children.
Article in PLOS global public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The presence of maternal cells in the offspring at birth, a phenomenon known as maternal microchimerism, has been previously associated with decreased odds of malaria and respiratory infections in early childhood suggesting a role in immunological responses to infections. Here, we assess the effect of cord blood maternal microchimerism on symptomatic non-malarial infections in Tanzanian children. We conducted a secondary analysis using a nested birth cohort of 52 children from Muheza, Tanzania, with previously measured cord blood maternal microchimerism and longitudinal records on infections in the first four years of life. The associations between maternal microchimerism and symptomatic lower and upper respiratory tract infections, diarrhea, and non-malarial fever were estimated using generalized estimating equation models. In total, 29% of the 52 children in the study screened positive for cord blood maternal microchimerism. Detected versus non-detected maternal microchimerism was associated with 58% lower odds of non-malarial fever (fully adjusted odds ratio (OR): 0.42 [95% CI: 0.18-0.98]) and 28% lower odds of respiratory tract infection (OR: 0.72 [95% CI: 0.53-0.96]). Lower and upper respiratory tract infections contributed equally to the observed association with any symptomatic respiratory tract infections (ORs respectively: 0.81 [95% CI: 0.50-1.31] and 0.71 [95% CI: 0.50-1.01]). We did not find any association between maternal microchimerism and odds of diarrhea (OR: 1.63 [95% CI: 0.85-3.13]). Detectable cord blood maternal microchimerism was associated with lower odds of non-malarial fever and symptomatic respiratory infections in Tanzanian infants. These findings emphasize that MMc may play an underrecognized role in protection from infection during early childhood.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.