Genital Mycoplasma Colonization in Neonatal Girls

Specimens obtained from the genital tract of 90 pairs of mothers and their female infants were cultured for Ureaplasma urealyticum (Ureaplasma) and Mycoplasma hominis (M.hominis). Ureaplasma and M.hominis were isolated from 80% and 17% of pregnant women, and 41% and 4.4% of female infants, respectively. Fifty nine per cent of infants were positive for Ureaplasma when they were borne per vaginam by Ureaplasma-positive mothers. However, Ureaplasma was not isolated from any of 11 infants delivered by cesarean section before rupture of the fetal membranes, in spite of positive colonization by Ureaplasma in the mothers. Quantitation of Ureaplasma revealed that neonatal colonization was closely associated with the colonization number of this microorganism in the cervical canal of mothers. Prolonged interval between rupture of fetal membranes and delivery caused a slightly increased frequency of isolation of this organism, but it was less significant. A study of mean birth weight revealed that there was no correlation between maternal or neonatal colonization by Ureaplasma and low birth weight.