UREAPLASMA-UREALYTICUM COLONIZATION OF FULL TERM INFANTS - PERINATAL ACQUISITION AND PERSISTENCE DURING EARLY INFANCY

In a prospective study 225 (35%) of 640 pregnant women who delivered at term had vaginal colonization with Ureaplasma urealyticum at the thime of delivery. One hundred ninety-three full term infants born to U. urealyticum-colonized mothers were cultured from the throat, eyes and vagina within the first 3 days of life. One hundred seven infants (55%) had at least one culture site positive for U. urealyticum (throat 41%, eyes 20%, vagina 40%). Rupture of membranes for ≥12 hours and the mode of delivery did not affect vertical transmission of U. urealyticu. We were able to follow 108 infants during the first 3 months of life. Sixty-eight, 33 and 37% of the infants who were initially colonized with U. urealyticum in the throat, eyes and vagina, respectively, were still colonized when the follow-up cultures were obtained 3 months later. Fourteen of the 108 infants whom we followed developed a lower respiratory tract illness. In the pharyngeally colonized infants there was no increase risk for lower respiratro ytract illness during early infancy compared with the pharyngeally noncolonized infants. © 1990 Williams and Wilkins.