title: Clinical significance of airways colonization with Ureaplasma urealyticum in premature (<34 wk) neonates.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Ureaplasma urealyticum has been implicated in various neonatal morbidities in preterm infants. Its association with chronic lung disease (CLD) remains controversial. The aim of this prospective study was to investigate colonization of U. urealyticum in preterm infants (with gestational age <34 wk) and to evaluate the relationship between U. urealyticum colonization and neonatal morbidity including CLD.
  
  
  METHODS
  U. urealyticum was cultured from nasopharyngeal or endotracheal aspirates collected within 24 h of birth from infant <or=34 wk gestation weighing <1800 g admitted to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a tertiary care hospital in north India, and PCR was performed on the DNA extracted from these samples.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty per cent of the study infants were colonized with U. urealyticum. The mean gestational age of the infants in the colonized group was less than that of non colonized infants (P<0.05). The peripheral total leukocyte counts and mortality rate were higher in infants with U. urealyticum colonization than in non-colonized infants (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the colonized and non colonized groups with regard to the antenatal use of steroids, sex, cause of respiratory distress, use of surfactant, duration of ventilation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  None of the 20 babies colonized with U. urealyticum developed CLD as compared with two (2.5%) of the non colonized group. Colonization of the airways with U. urealyticum had no significant role in development of CLD in Indian preterm infants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology , All India Institute of Medical Sciences New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Anubhav
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pandey
authors.forename: Benu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dhawan
authors.forename: Vikas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Rama
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chaudhry
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Deorari
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000382:microbiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014132:Trachea / Q000382:microbiology*; D016990:Ureaplasma urealyticum / Q000302:isolation & purification*