title: Reporting detection of Chlamydia trachomatis DNA in tissues of neonatal death cases.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to determine whether C. trachomatis was present in neonates with infection, but without an isolated pathogen, who died during the first week of life.
  
  
  METHODS
  early neonatal death cases whose causes of death had been previously adjudicated by the institutional mortality committee were randomly selected. End-point and real-time polymerase chain reaction of the C. trachomatis omp1 gene was used to blindly identify the presence of chlamydial DNA in the paraffinized samples of five organs (from authorized autopsies) of each of the dead neonates. Additionally, differential diagnoses were conducted by amplifying a fragment of the 16S rRNA of Mycoplasma spp.
  
  
  RESULTS
  in five cases (35.7%), C. trachomatis DNA was found in one or more organs. Severe neonatal infection was present in three cases; one of them corresponded to genotype D of C. trachomatis. Interestingly, another case fulfilled the same criteria but had a positive polymerase chain reaction for Mycoplasma hominis, a pathogen known to produce sepsis in newborns.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  the use of molecular biology techniques in these cases of early infant mortality demonstrated that C. trachomatis could play a role in the development of severe infection and in early neonatal death, similarly to that observed with Mycoplasma hominis. Further study is required to determine the pathogenesis of this perinatal infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology of Development, Instituto Nacional de Perinatología, DF, Mexico; School of Medicine, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, DF, Mexico.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hernandez-Trejo
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, DF, Mexico.
authors.forename: Norma E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Herrera-Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: National School of Biological Sciences, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, DF, Mexico.
authors.forename: Marcos R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Escobedo-Guerra
authors.affiliation: National School of Biological Sciences, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, DF, Mexico.
authors.forename: M de Jesus de
authors.initials: Mde J
authors.lastname: Haro-Cruz
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathological Anatomy, Instituto Nacional de Perinatología, DF, Mexico.
authors.forename: Elsa R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Moreno-Verduzco
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectology, Instituto Nacional de Perinatología, DF, Mexico.
authors.forename: Marcela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lopez-Hurtado
authors.affiliation: National School of Biological Sciences, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, DF, Mexico; Department of Infectology, Instituto Nacional de Perinatología, DF, Mexico. Electronic address: fguerra_96@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Fernando M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Guerra-Infante
mesh_terms: D001344:Autopsy; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000401:mortality*; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000235:genetics*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009174:Mycoplasma / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length / Q000235:genetics; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
keywords: Chlamydia trachomatis; Mortalidade; Mortality; Newborn; Polymerase chain reaction; Reação em cadeia da polimerase; Recém-nascido; Sepse; Sepsis