Gilsdorf’s research focused primarily on increasing our understanding of the epidemiology,
molecular genetics, and pathogenicity of the bacterium
Haemophilus influenzae, which causes both middle ear infections and severe systemic infections including meningitis in children.
Bacterial meningitis in Native Alaskan children While working at the
Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation in Bethel, Alaska, Gilsdorf documented the high rate of
H. influenzae meningitis in children diagnosed at the Alaska Native Health Service Hospital. This observation led to clinical trials of
H. influenzae type b vaccines in native Alaskan children, who exhibited a rate of infection ten to fifteen times higher than that reported in studies from the continental United States. They showed that healthy children attending a day care center in which a child had experienced a serious Hib infection often carried that bacterium in their noses and/or throats without developing serious disease. Gilsdorf and her coauthors also demonstrated the ability of the antibiotic rifampin to decrease
H. influenzae carriage. These studies led to the recommendation to treat household and day care center contacts with rifampin to eliminate
H. influenzae carriage and thus decrease the risk of infection.
Adherence of H. influenzae to human epithelial cells After demonstrating that
H. influenzae adhere to human epithelial cells, Gilsdorf and her collaborators showed that the adherence was mediated by surface proteins called pili and described the components of those structures.
Genetic diversity of H. influenzae Gilsdorf and her colleagues demonstrated the high level of genetic diversity among colonizing strains of
H. influenzae, which led to their description of the
H. influenzae strain dynamics during pharyngeal colonization.
Identification of genetic differences between pathogenic and non-pathogenic H. influenzae Gilsdorf and her associates described genetic differences between disease-causing and colonizing
H. influenzae strains, suggesting that the genes more prevalent among disease-causing strains represent bacterial factors that may contribute to
H. influenzae pathogenicity and disease.
Genetic technique to distinguish encapsulated from non-encapsulated H. influenzae Gilsdorf and her colleagues described a molecular typing method that utilized identification of a key capsule gene among
H. influenzae strains. This new technique, identifying bexB in clinical isolates, is now used by the Centers for Disease Control to type
H. influenzae. == Literary works ==