CLINICAL RELEVANCE OF UREAPLASMA-UREALYTICUM COLONIZATION IN PRETERM INFANTS

A cohort of 78 infants of gestational age less than 34 weeks was exami ned for Ureaplasma urealyticum colonization and neonatal morbidity. Ur eaplasma urealyticum was cultured from nasopharyngeal, endotracheal an d blood-culture samples, A child was considered as being colonized if any sample was positive. The children with perinatal U, urealyticum co lonization (n = 11; 14%) differed from those with no colonization (n = 67) in two important aspects: (i) they had higher leucocyte counts on the first (18.6 vs 12.4 10(9)) and the second (29.0 vs 15.4 10(9)) da ys of life (p = 0.01, both days); and (ii) they more often needed high -frequency oscillatory ventilation (45% vs 13%, p=0.02). This study sh owed that (i. urealyticum colonization is associated with signs of the host defence response together with symptoms of respiratory tract inv olvement suggesting the pathogenicity of U. urealyticum in premature i nfants.