Older and wiser: The benefits to neonates of aged neutrophils.

Neonates are relatively protected from non-neonatal pathogens by unclear mechanisms. In this issue of Immunity, Bee et al.1 show that resistance to Streptococcus pneumoniae in neonatal mice is mediated by dampened neutrophil efferocytosis, accumulation of aged neutrophils, and enhanced CD11b-dependent bacterial opsonophagocytosis.