Objective:The aim of this study was to investigate mother-to-child transmission ofMutans streptococciin Shenyang area of China.Methods:Saliva samples of 16 mothers and their children were collected and cultured on selective medium forMutans streptococci. Arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reactions (AP-PCR) with randomly chosen primers were performed to genotype these isolates.Results:The PCR results demonstrated thatMutans streptococciin 5412% of the mother/child pairswere the same in genotypes. Similargenotypes inmothers and childrenwere found significantly more frequently inmotherswho had more than one genotype. Significant correlation was found in colony forming units (CFU) between mothers and their children.Conclusion:This suggests thatMutans streptococcicould be transmitted frommothers to their children. Significant correlationwas found between the number of genotypes ofMutans streptococciin mothers and the transmission of this group of streptococci from mothers to their chil- dren.
