Abstract
Chorioamnionitis is associated with perinatal death, congenital pneumonia and neonatal septicemia. Most cases of chorioamnionitis cannot be clearly attributed to pathogenic bacteria. Genital mycoplasmas have occasionally been isolated from affected tissues.
To evaluate the possible association of genital mycoplasmas and chorioamnionitis, we have studied 249 consecutive live births. Mycoplasmas were grown from vaginal cultures of 73% of the mothers and from superficial cultures of 35% of their infants. When the histologic sections of the placentas were evaluated independently, 22% had significant polymorphonuclear cell infiltrates. M. hominis was isolated from 20.4% of infants whose placentas showed chorioamnionitis and from 14.6% of those with normal placentas (p>0.5). T-mycoplasmas were grown from 36.7% of infants with chorioamnionitis and from 19.3% of those without inflammation (p=0.016). Correction for the effects of birth weight, infant length, gestational age, duration of labor and of ruptured membranes, race, sex, prenatal care, and smoking history did not alter the significance of this association. These findings suggest that genital mycoplasmas may account for a substantial proportion of cases of chorioamnionitis.
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Shurin, P., Alpert, S., Rosner, B. et al. GENITAL MYCOPLASMAS - ASSOCIATION WITH CHORIOAMNIONITIS. Pediatr Res 8, 428 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197404000-00530
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197404000-00530