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RDS is common in premature newborns. Thus, doctors usually recognize and begin treating the disorder as soon as babies are born. Doctors also do several tests to rule out other conditions that could be causing a newborn's breathing problems. The tests also can confirm that the doctors have diagnosed the condition correctly.

Signs and symptoms of RDS usually happen at birth or within the first few hours that follow. Depending on the severity of a newborn's RDS, he or she may develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia or other medical problems, such as bleeding in the brain, kidney failure, or lung complications.

Taking steps to ensure a healthy pregnancy might prevent your newborn from being born before his or her lungs have fully developed. Your doctor may also give you injections of a corticosteroid medicine if he or she thinks you may give birth too early. This medicine can speed up development of the lungs, brain, and kidneys in your baby and surfactant production.

Certain factors may increase the risk that your newborn will have RDS. These factors include infection, premature delivery, problems with your baby’s lung development, stress during your baby’s delivery, and you having diabetes.

RDS is a type of neonatal respiratory disease that is caused most often by a lack of surfactant in the lungs. A fetus's lungs start making surfactant during the third trimester of pregnancy, or weeks 26 through labor and delivery. Surfactant coats the insides of the air sacs, or alveoli, in the lungs. This helps keep the lungs open so breathing can occur after birth.

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Immune system changes in pregnant women place the women themselves, their unborn children, and their newborns at increased risk of foodborne illness. These illnesses can be worse during pregnancy and may lead to miscarriage or premature delivery. Some foodborne illnesses, such as Listeria and Toxoplasma gondii, can infect the fetus even if the mother does not feel sick.

A properly functioning immune system works to clear infection and other foreign agents from the body. People with health problems or who take medicines that weaken the body’s ability to fight germs and sickness are more likely to get a foodborne illness. This includes, for example, people with diabetes; liver or kidney disease; HIV/AIDS; autoimmune diseases; organ transplants; and people receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

Adults age 65 and older are at a higher risk for hospitalization and death from foodborne illness. This increased risk of foodborne illness is because organs and body systems go through changes as people age.