On July 18, 1994, 63-year-old Italian Rosanna Dalla Corta created a sensation in world medicine by giving birth to a boy after a course of infertility treatment. We decided to recall the most unusual childbearing records.

Youngest mother

Lina Medina became the youngest mother in the world in 1939 in Peru. At the age of 5 years and 7 months, this girl gave birth to a 3-pound baby. Lina’s parents noticed strange bloating in the girl’s belly when she was already 7 months old. At first, doctors diagnosed a tumor, but then admitted that the girl was pregnant. Lina's pregnancy proceeded absolutely normally, and in the end the baby was born quite healthy. Lina did not dare to name the reason for her pregnancy or her real father, even after several decades. The earliest born child lived until he was 40 years old, and then died of bone marrow disease.

First pregnant man

On June 29, 2008, the world was shocked by the news that the first pregnant man had successfully given birth to a child. This was done by 34-year-old American Thomas Beaty, who gave birth to a healthy girl. The fact is that 15 years ago Thomas decided to have sex reassignment surgery. His mammary glands were removed, but the female reproductive system was left inside the body. The child was born through artificial insemination. During childbirth, the man had to undergo a caesarean section, although Beaty himself claims that the birth took place naturally. His wife Nancy met him from the maternity hospital, who claimed that the family would be absolutely traditional: Biti would play the paternal role, and she would play the maternal role.

The heaviest baby in the world

In 1955, a woman named Carmelina Fedele gave birth to the heaviest baby in the world in Aversa, Italy. His weight was 10.2 kilograms. The child was born healthy, it was a boy. Before this incident, no one in the world had ever given birth to a 10-kilogram baby. In 2009, a baby weighing almost 9 kg was born in Indonesia, and in 1992 in the UK there was baby is born weighing 7 kg. By comparison, the smallest surviving baby in history weighed 281 grams.

The largest number of children born of a woman for the whole life

The wife of the Russian peasant Fyodor Vasilyev gave birth to and raised 69 children. In just 40 years, she managed to give birth 27 times: 16 times of twins, 7 times of triplets and 4 times of 4 twins. Only two Vasiliev children died in infancy.

Biggest number multiple births one woman

Maddalena Granata from Italy, born in 1839, gave birth 15 times in her life - and all 15 times she gave birth to triplets. The most multiple pregnancy in history occurred in Kursk: a woman there gave birth to 10 children at one time. No one has yet been able to repeat the record - and the woman herself, understandably, prefers not to try.

The birth of one baby is a classic of the nature genre regarding the Crown of Creation, man. However, “thanks to” our intervention in nature and the development of artificial insemination technology, multiple pregnancies are no longer uncommon.

Twins and triplets are no longer a special feature. Women give birth to five, eight and even 11 children at once. We invite you to look at these courageous mothers, who at one time created a large, large family for themselves.

Identical 14-year-old twins were born as a quartet: Megan, Sarah, Kendra and Callie Durst became famous at the age of 6, and are now starring in a reality show about their lives.
According to data for 2005, 15 identical quadruplets were born in the world, 10 of them were sisters, but there are many more non-identical quadruplets. According to statistics, one quadruplet occurs in 700 thousand pregnancies.

The most famous, first and only case of the birth of five identical twins - Canadian family Dionne. The girls were born in 1934 and long years were a landmark of the province of Ontario, and according to the twins themselves, their fate was not an enviable one.

In 2013, quintuplets were born in Salt Lake City - 3 girls and 2 boys. It is noteworthy that the pregnancy occurred naturally.

Last year, 2016, 37-year-old Odessa resident Oksana Kobeletskaya gave birth to quintuplets, although the couple were expecting twins.

Nkem Chukwu from Texas gave birth to eight babies in December 1998. Moreover, on December 8 she gave birth to a girl, and on the 20th she gave birth to 5 more girls and two boys (one of the babies died shortly after giving birth).

In 2009, 33-year-old Nadi Suliman gave birth to eight twins - two girls and six boys. All children are alive and well, and this is the only case of octuplets where all survived.

Nineteens were born in 1971, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1979 and 1999, but, unfortunately, none of these 54 children survived

Ten children - until today was considered the largest number of children born from one pregnancy. In 1946, 8 girls and 2 boys were born in Brazil; there are also known cases of the birth of such a number of children in China in 1936 and in Spain in 1924. There is no information about whether the children survived.

42-year-old resident of the Indian city of Riley Maria Fernandez naturally gave birth to 11 children in 37 minutes. All are completely healthy boys, six of whom are identical twins. This phenomenon is included in the Guinness Book of Records. Thus, today 11 children born from one pregnancy are an absolute record.

Record number of births

Elizabeth Greenhill, a resident of Great Britain, was included in the Guinness Book of Records for the largest number of births. This woman gave birth 38 times. And only once did she have twins. Elizabeth died in 1681, leaving behind a “rich” inheritance in the form of 32 daughters and 7 sons.

Express information on the country

The Earth is in third place in terms of distance from the Sun and in fifth place among all planets solar system to size.

Age– 4.54 billion years

Average radius – 6,378.2 km

Average circumference – 40,030.2 km

Square– 510,072 million km² (29.1% land and 70.9% water)

Number of continents– 6: Eurasia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Antarctica

Number of oceans– 4: Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic

Population– 7.3 billion people. (50.4% men and 49.6% women)

Most populous states: Monaco (18,678 people/km2), Singapore (7607 people/km2) and Vatican City (1914 people/km2)

Number of countries: total 252, independent 195

Number of languages ​​in the world– about 6,000

Number of official languages– 95; the most common: English (56 countries), French (29 countries) and Arabic (24 countries)

Number of nationalities– about 2,000

Climate zones: equatorial, tropical, temperate and arctic (main) + subequatorial, subtropical and subarctic (transitional)

Only another mother-heroine from Italy, Maddalena Granata, can compare with Elizabeth. During her life, she was pregnant 15 times and each time she gave birth to 3 children at once.

History also knows cases of multiple pregnancies, when one woman gave birth to 11 children at once. This happened at the end of the twentieth century in the USA and Bangladesh. In both cases, not a single child survived.

Record number of embryos

Unfortunately, in almost all cases of multiple pregnancies (more than 10 embryos), even if it comes to childbirth, the chances of survival for such babies are negligible. In 1971, in Italy, Dr. Gennaro Montanino performed an abortion on a 35-year-old woman, from whose uterus he removed 15 embryos! 5 of them were male, and 10 were female. The operation was carried out for a period of 4 months. After lengthy investigations, doctors came to the conclusion that such an anomaly had become side effect taking fertility pills.

That same year, a woman in Australia gave birth to 9 children - 5 boys and 4 girls. 2 boys were stillborn, the rest of the children lived no more than a week.

At various times in the mid-twentieth century, reports came from China, Brazil and Spain about the birth of 10 children at once. There is no information about whether the babies survived or not.

At the beginning of 2009, a resident of the United States, Nadya Suleiman, gave birth to eight children at once. The media gave her the nickname "Octomom". The weight of six boys and two girls ranged from 800 to 1400 g. All children are alive and well. It is noteworthy that the American woman was never married and already had six children before these births.

Largest number of children born to one woman

History knows a woman who gave birth to 69 children. The wife of a Russian peasant gave birth 27 times between 1725 and 1765. The woman gave birth to 4 children 4 times, 3 times 7 times and twins 16 times. All but two children survived.

Another fertile mother is Leontina Albina from Chile. She gave birth to 55 children, and the first 5 times 3 babies were born and only boys.

The most numerous father in history

For some reason, all records concerning children are tied to mothers. However, history also knows the father with many children - Yakov Kirillov. From his first marriage he had 57 children, and from his second – 15. In total, it turns out that the man became a father 72 times. For this, in 1755 he was presented to the court at the age of 60.

Record-breaking grandfather

Another man has set a kind of record in the field of childbirth. This is a modern resident of Novokuznetsk Alexey Shapovalov. He is called the richest grandfather in the world. Alexey has 11 sons and two daughters, who gave him a total of 117 grandchildren. They, in turn, have already managed to “reward” the grandfather with 33 great-grandchildren.

Illustration copyright Getty

Bearing and raising even one child is quite a labor-intensive task. However, historical documents claim that a certain woman gave birth to as many as 69 children. Is it true? And will modern medicine be able to expand women's reproductive capabilities? The correspondent is looking for answers to these questions

If the British tabloid press had existed in the 18th century, the story of the family of Russian peasant Fyodor Vasiliev would have caused a frenzy of excitement.

What's the matter? It is believed that Vasiliev’s first wife, whose name has not been preserved by history, holds the world record for the number of children born.

According to a message sent to Moscow by the monks of the St. Nicholas Monastery, between 1725 and 1765 Vasilyeva managed to give birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven times to give birth to triplets, and four times to quadruples.

She gave birth, respectively, 27 times, for a total of 69 children.

One can only wonder how a modern newspaper editor would react to such prolificity, especially given the uproar surrounding mother of octuplets Nadia Suleman (nicknamed "Octomom" and giving birth to 14 children) and the British Radford family (their 17 children were the subjects of a TV documentary).

So, is it actually possible to have more than 60 children?

A woman could theoretically mother more children than we ever thought possible

"Something from the realm of fantasy. Just imagine, 69 children? Come on!" - says James Segars, director of the Division of Research in the Field of Reproduction and women's health Johns Hopkins University.

I decided to take a closer look at this surprising (and, at first glance, dubious) statement by consulting with reproduction experts.

I was hoping to find out what the physical limits were on the number of children a woman could bear naturally.

Along the way, it was discovered that thanks to the achievements of modern science, a woman could theoretically become a mother to more children than we ever thought possible.

First, let's look at the mathematical part of the Vasilievs' story. Is it possible to have 27 pregnancies in the 40 years we are talking about?

At first, this doesn't seem counterintuitive - especially since triplets and quadruplets are usually born at an earlier stage.

It turns out that in total Vasilyeva was pregnant for 18 years

Let's make some rough calculations: 16 twins, 37 weeks; seven triplets at 32 weeks; four quadruplets of 30 weeks. It turns out that in total Vasilyeva was pregnant for 18 years out of 40. She had a craving for salty food - and so on for a couple of decades.

Another question is whether this is possible in reality.

First of all, it is necessary to understand whether a woman is able to maintain constant readiness for childbearing over such a long period.

Typically, women have their first period around the age of 15: every 28 days, their ovaries release an egg—usually one.

Ovulation repeats until the supply of eggs in the ovaries is depleted during menopause, which occurs around age 51.

However, a woman’s ability to conceive sharply decreases long before menopause.

"A 45-year-old woman's chance of getting pregnant is about 1% per month," says Valerie Baker, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford University School of Medicine.

A woman's aging leads to a reduction in the number and quality of eggs. In progress intrauterine development A female embryo can have up to seven million immature eggs, with about a million remaining at birth.

The ability to become pregnant decreases with each pregnancy, because each subsequent birth takes its toll on the body

U adult woman Only a few hundred thousand eggs are retained. Of these many cells found inside the follicles, approximately 400 reach maturity and participate in ovulation, providing their carrier with approximately 30 years of potential childbearing.

The last eggs that ovulate late in a woman's reproductive years are at much higher risk of mutations, genetic abnormalities, and other problems associated with aging.

Often, pregnancies involving such atypical eggs end spontaneously.

"Most women are unable to get pregnant after they reach 42-44 years of age," says James Segars. "However, sometimes this happens closer to 50 years of age."

Moreover, the ability to become pregnant decreases with each pregnancy, because each subsequent birth affects the female reproductive system.

And if Vasilyeva breastfed her children - which is logical for a peasant woman who could not afford wet nurses - ovulation did not occur in her body. This natural method of birth control would further reduce her chances of having 69 pregnancies.

It turns out that Fedor and his wife were very lucky (or perhaps unlucky) that even after she reached 50 years old, she did not have any problems with having new children.

Survive childbirth

And this is not all the difficulties associated with the birth of 69 babies.

Evolution has taken care of slowing down women’s “biological clocks,” because bearing and giving birth to a child is an extremely difficult task, which only becomes more difficult with age.

“The limits must be set by nature,” says Valerie Baker. “Pregnancy is the most stressful process a woman’s body will ever go through.”

The fact that childbirth is a burden for a woman gives the greatest reason to doubt the veracity of the story about 69 children - especially considering that it happened a couple of centuries ago in the Russian outback.

IN developed countries availability of modern obstetric care (for example, due to medical reasons caesarean section) reduced maternal mortality.

In Britain, per 100,000 births, only eight women die from pregnancy-related causes during pregnancy or six weeks after pregnancy. These are the latest statistics from the World Bank.

Meanwhile, in one of the poorest countries on Earth, Sierra Leone, the rate is 1,100 deaths per 100,000 births.

The tendency to have twins is usually hereditary. Perhaps in Vasilyeva it was especially pronounced?

In this regard, the assumption that Fyodor Vasilyev’s wife survived 27 births raises doubts.

"Previously, any pregnancy was a risk to the mother's life," explains Segars. With multiple births (for example, the birth of quadruplets), the risk of serious life-threatening complications increases rapidly.

“Every pregnancy at that time was complex, even if it was just one child,” says Jonathan Tilley of Northeastern University (USA), who is researching the use of oocyte stem cells to treat female infertility and other diseases (read about this below).

A bunch of backbiters

Another aspect that looks implausible in the Vasilievs’ story is the possibility of multiple conceptions of two, three and four children at the same time.

There are two varieties multiple pregnancies: Either several eggs that leave the ovaries as a result of ovulation are successfully fertilized by sperm (so-called fraternal twins), or one fertilized egg divides into two or more viable embryos, resulting in identical twins with identical genetic code.

In general, such situations happen extremely rarely. So, in 2012 in Britain, the chance of having twins was only 1.5% of all pregnancies, triplets - an insignificant three ten thousandths of a percent, and four or more babies were born three times out of 778,805 times. This is evidenced by statistics from the Multiple Births Foundation.

Yes, the tendency to give birth to twins can indeed be hereditary, and in the wife of Fyodor Vasilyev it could be especially pronounced.

However, in general, the likelihood that Vasilyeva was somehow able to conceive and survive the birth of at least 16 twins looks microscopic.

“Are there 16 twins alone? I would be very surprised,” Tilly comments.

Another alarm bell in the Vasilievs’ story: it is alleged that 67 of the 69 children born to them survived infancy.

In the 18th century, infant mortality was high even for children born as a result of singleton pregnancies, and reached alarming levels in the case of twins and so on - these children were usually premature and less healthy.

Now surrogate mothers can carry embryos from other parents, which potentially further increases the number of children in the family

"Even if you had quadruplets today, I'm not sure they would all survive," says James Segars.

Finally, it is impossible to believe in the existence of a woman ready for such a life. “Just imagine how stressful it is!” - says Valerie Baker.

Segars echoes her: “You could go crazy! I can’t imagine what it was like to live in this house.”

If, after all, this story is true and not a legend, then the endless need to take care of children could be the decisive reason for the Vasilievs’ divorce, which followed several decades of marriage.

Already an elderly man, Fyodor Vasiliev remarried, and his new wife supposedly gave birth to "only" 18 children. This is about topics for the yellow press.

Brave New World

So what is the actual limit? The answer to this question is not so simple, since the “natural” restrictions that apply to the offspring of an individual woman can now be circumvented.

Firstly, the development of assisted reproductive technologies (ART), which appeared in the late 1970s, led to a surge in the birth rate of twins, triplets, and so on (Nadya Suleman used ART).

Secondly, surrogate mothers can now carry embryos from other parents, which potentially further increases the number of children in the family.

But here's what scientists recently found out: we probably greatly underestimate women's reproductive capabilities.

According to the last years According to research, inside women's ovaries there are “oocyte stem cells”, the proper stimulation of which could lead to the creation of an almost infinite number of eggs.

Jonathan Tilley and his colleagues collected information about these cells from creatures ranging from flies to monkeys.

In 2012, they reached the stem cells of human oocytes. As it turned out, they do not contribute to the production of eggs, unlike similar animal cells. For female flies, this is a common way to produce new eggs.

In principle, women could become mothers to hundreds or even thousands of children

Many doctors working in his field express doubts, but Jonathan Tilly is confident: there is a theoretical possibility of activating this mechanism in women.

He hopes to help women whose egg reserves have been depleted, including prematurely, such as due to cancer treatment.

If this hypothetical procedure were to actually be possible, one would imagine that fertility drugs would be used to hyperstimulate the ovaries, causing multiple follicles to mature and ovulate simultaneously.

These many eggs can be surgically removed and fertilized in vitro, and then surgically placed into the wombs of any number of surrogate mothers, whose task is to carry the embryos. Each could potentially give birth to two or more twins.

Thus, from a reproductive point of view, women could move closer to men, becoming mothers to hundreds or even thousands of children - leaving far behind the achievements of Fyodor Vasiliev's wife.

However, Tilly makes it clear that his research in no way suggests that women will be able to have thousands of children. He intends to help eliminate infertility in those diagnosed with infertility.

However, the researcher hopes that scientific advances will help equalize the reproductive capabilities of men and women.

After all, males produce millions of sperm throughout their lives, so the only natural limitation of their offspring is the presence (or absence) of ovulating partners.

When it comes to the idea that restrictions on female fertility might be lifted, everyone starts going crazy Jonathan Tilley

Conqueror (and some say serial rapist) Genghis Khan apparently fathered hundreds of children born across his vast Asian empire some 800 years ago. According to genetics, about 16 million people living today are his descendants.

"Theoretically, men can become fathers until very old age, and if you start early, the situation could develop like Genghis Khan," says Jonathan Tilly.

According to him, “male fertility is actually unlimited,” but based on what his research will give desired result, then “women’s too.”

If such a scenario does come true, the existence of mothers with countless children will create a sensation, perhaps even greater than the 69 Vasiliev children.

The question is: How would the public react to multiple fatherhood? If it's not so violent, is that fair?

“People take unlimited male fertility as a given - everyone knows we can do it,” Tilly explains. “But as soon as it comes to the idea that restrictions on female fertility might be lifted, everyone starts going crazy.”

The researcher believes that the issue needs to be put into perspective and the equality that women have deservedly fought for over the past few decades should also apply to issues of reproduction.

Tilly says this about this: “In fact, there should be no difference between the sexes.”

Guinness Book of Records

Motherhood

Largest number of children

The largest number of children born to one mother, according to official data, is 69. According to reports made in 1782, between 1725 and 1765. the wife of the Russian peasant Fyodor Vasiliev gave birth 27 times, giving birth to twins 16 times, triplets 7 times and twins 4 times. Of these, only 2 children died in infancy.

Of our contemporaries, the most prolific mother is considered to be Leontina Albina (or Alvina) from San Antonio, Chile, who in 1943-81. gave birth to 55 children. As a result of her first 5 pregnancies, she gave birth to triplets, all of them male.

Elizabeth Greenhill of Abbots Langley, c., allegedly gave birth a record number of times - 38 times. Hertfordshire, UK. She had 39 children - 32 daughters and 7 sons - and died in 1681.

At the age of 63, Rosanna Dalla Corta of Viterbo, Italy, gave birth to a boy on July 18, 1994; Before this, she underwent treatment for infertility. According to a report from the University of Southern California, 63-year-old Arsely Keh also gave birth to a child in 1996.

For 128 days ahead of schedule Brenda Gill gave birth to a son, James Gill, in Ottawa, Ontario Ave., Canada, on May 20, 1987. was 624

The longest intervals between births in multiple pregnancies

Peggy Lynn from Huntington, NY Pennsylvania! USA, gave birth to a girl, Hannah, on November 11, 1995, and the second of the twins, Eric, only 84 days later (February 2, 1996).

The most long separation two twins

Iris Jones and Aro Campbell (b. 1914) met after 75 years of separation.

Multiple births

Siamese twins

Conjoined twins began to be called “Siamese” after Chang and Eng Bunkers were born conjoined at the sternum in the Maeklong region of Siam (Thailand) on May 11, 1811. They were married to Sarah and Adelaide Yates of State. North Carolina, USA, and had 10 and 12 children, respectively. They died in 1874, and with a difference of 3 hours.

The most extreme form of this phenomenon is a human being with two heads, four arms and two legs (dicephales tetrabrachius dipus). The only recorded case of this kind is Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapov, born in January 1950. in USSR.

The first successful operation to separate conjoined twins was performed on December 14, 1952 at Mount Sinai Hospital, Cleveland, PC. Ohio, USA, Dr. Jacques S. Geller.

Largest number of multiple births in one family

Maddalena Granata from Italy (b. 1839) gave birth to triplets 15 times.

There is also information about birth on May 29, 1971 in Philadelphia, pcs. Pennsylvania, USA, and in May 1977 in Bagarhat, Bangladesh, 11 twins. In both cases, not a single child survived.

Most an old man(documented)

In Arles, France, 122-year-old Jeanne Louise Calmat, born February 21, 1875, died in August 1997. Today, the oldest person is Marie Louise Febron-Mailer, Quebec Ave., Canada, who is 116 years old.

Oldest twins

February 14, 1803 in Effington, pc. Eli Shadrack Phipps and John Meshack Phipps were born in Virginia, USA. Eli was the first to die at the age of 108. It was February 23, 1911.

Oldest triplets

Faith, Hope and Charity Cardwell were born in Elm Mott, Pc. Texas, USA, May 18, 1899 Faith was the first to die on October 2, 1994 at the age of 95.

Oldest quadruplets

Adolph, Anna Maria, Emma and Elizabeth Ottman were born May 5, 1912. in Munich, Germany. Adolf was the first to die on March 17, 1992 at the age of 79.

Largest number of descendants

In countries where polygamy is legal, a person can have countless children. It is said that the Sultan of Morocco Moulay Ismail (1672-1727) by 1703 had 525 sons and 342 daughters, and in 1721, when he was 49 years old, became the father of the 700th son.

On the day of his death at the age of 96 in October 1992, Samuel S. Maheth of Freiberg, Pc. Pennsylvania, USA, had a total of 824 living descendants: 11 children, 97 grandchildren, 634 great-grandchildren and 82 great-great-grandchildren.

Descendants spanning the largest number of generations

Augusta Bunge from piece. Wisconsin, USA, became a great-great-great-great-grandmother on January 21, 1989, at the age of 110, when her great-great-great-granddaughter gave birth to her son, Christopher John Bollig.

Largest number of living ancestors

At the time of her birth in 1982, Megan Sue Austin, Bar Harbor, Pc. Maine, USA, had 19 direct ascendants, which included a full set of grandparents, great-grandparents, and 5 great-great-grandparents.

Most fertile pregnancies

Dr. Gennaro Montanino, Rome, Italy, claims to have removed the embryos of 10 girls and 5 boys from the uterus of a 35-year-old woman who was 4 months pregnant in July 1971. This unique case of 15th pregnancy was the result of taking fertility pills.

Geraldine Broadrick gave birth to 9 children - the largest number in one pregnancy - on June 13, 1971 in Sydney, Australia. 5 boys and 4 girls were born: 2 boys were stillborn, and none of the rest lived more than 6 days.

Cases of the birth of 10 twins (2 boys and 8 girls) are known from reports from Spain (1924), China (1936) and Brazil (April 1946).

Infectious diseases

“Ancient” diseases

Already in 1350 BC. In ancient Egypt, cases of leprosy were described.

Egyptian mummies preserved from the 20th dynasty (1250-1000 BC) showed traces of an infectious liver and kidney disease such as (Tuberculosis Schistosomiasis).

The biblical Old Testament mentions and.

“Newest” disease

Recently, an infectious disease has been discovered that is the new kind Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, leading to dementia. The disease is likely caused by a tiny piece of protein called a prion. It is transmitted to humans from cattle infected with bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE).

Most widespread disease

The most widespread infectious disease is upper respiratory tract disease. There are at least 40 different viruses (either transmitted through the air or through direct contact) that cause symptoms such as sneezing, sore throat, watery eyes, runny nose, headache, slight increase in temperature.

A rare disease

The rarest disease now is smallpox. In May 1978, the World Health Organization (WHO) had not recorded a single case of smallpox in the previous 6 months. The last fatal case of smallpox occurred in August 1978. A photographer working in a laboratory at the University of Birmingham, UK, was infected from a sample kept for research purposes.

The most dangerous diseases

A mortality rate of over 50% is observed with Lassa fever, an epidemic disease caused by a rare West African virus. Very high mortality was also observed with cercopithecus hemorrhagic fever (Marburg virus disease) and Ebola fever.

Since 1900, cholera has killed approximately 20 million people in India. human lives. During epidemic outbreaks, if left untreated, the mortality rate can reach 50%.

Less common is yellow fever, a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes. It reportedly kills 10-90% of those affected.

The most dangerous malaria infection