High-density vaginal Ureaplasma urealyticum colonization as a risk factor for chorioamnionitis and preterm delivery

Abstract

Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 2000; 79: 973-978. C Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 2000Background. The aim of this case control study was to investigate the influence of genital Ureaplasma urealyticum colonization on pregnancy outcome. Methods. One hundred and seventy-two women colonized with Ureaplasma urealyticum without co-existing other infections and 123 women with negative cultures for Ureaplasma urealyticum were enrolled. In a multivariate analysis the influence of quantitative Ureaplasma urealyticum colonization level was determined.Results. Compared to the negative women increasing colonization with Ureaplasma urealyticum was associated with a significant decrease of birth weight (pϽ0.0001) and gestational age (pϽ0.0001) and with a significant increase of chorioamnionitis (pϽ0.0001) and preterm delivery (pϽ0.001). In a multivariate analysis high-density Ureaplasma urealyticum colonization was an independent risk factor for chorioamnionitis and preterm delivery, whereas low colonization levels had no effect on an adverse outcome of pregnancy.Conclusions. The degree of colonization with Ureaplasma urealyticum correlates strongly with an adverse effect on pregnancy outcome.

Association of abnormal vaginal flora and Ureaplasma species as risk factors for preterm birth: a cohort study

“…spp., resulting in a very high Ureaplasma load. Indications that the number of colonizing organisms could be important when looking for risk factors for preterm birth was found by some authors (16,18). They found heavy growth of mycoplasmas or U. spp.…”

Certain type of chronic lung disease of newborns is associated with Ureaplasma urealyticum infection in utero

“…One contributing factor for this new BPD was reported to be perinatal infection including CAM 16–18 . Several studies reported that genital or placental colonization of U. urealyticum was associated with CAM 5,19–21 . Watterberg et al reported that infants born after CAM had decreased risk of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) but increased risk of CLD compared with the controls 22 .…”

Hematogenous infection of Sprague-Dawley rats with Mycoplasma pulmonis: development of a model for maternal and fetal infection

“…Isolation of Ureaplasma parvum/urealyticum from the placenta is consistently correlated with disease when histologic evidence of chorioamnionitis is used as the criterion, 1,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] and adverse pregnancy outcomes (APO), including fetal infection have been correlated with the numbers of U urealyticum isolated from reproductive sites during pregnancy. 17 Importantly, antenatal intrauterine infection with ureaplasmas also has been linked to severe pulmonary and neurologic disorders in neonates. 2,7,9,18,19 Mycoplasma pulmonis genital disease is the only naturally occurring reproductive disease in laboratory animals that is caused by a member of the class Mollicutes, and infection of the uterus can be accomplished by both intravaginal and intravenous (IV) routes.…”