The clinical significance of detecting Ureaplasma urealyticum by the polymerase chain reaction in the amniotic fluid of patients with preterm labor☆
Section snippets
Study population
The study population consisted of consecutive patients admitted with the diagnosis of preterm labor and intact membranes (gestational age ≤35 weeks) and singleton gestation who underwent amniocentesis for the assessment of microbiologic status of the amniotic cavity between January 1993 and July 2000. At Seoul National University Hospital, amniocentesis is routinely offered to all patients admitted with the diagnosis of preterm labor and intact membranes. Patients were divided into 3 groups
Results
The prevalence of positive amniotic fluid culture was 9% (23 of 257 cases). U urealyticum was detected by PCR assay in 6% (15 of 254) of cases with available amniotic fluid for PCR assay. Amniotic fluid for PCR assay was not available in 2 cases with a positive amniotic fluid culture for U urealyticum and 1 case with a positive culture for Burkholderia cepacia. Microorganisms isolated by culture included U urealyticum (n = 14), Enterococcus spp (n = 3), Acinetobacter spp (n = 2), Lactobacilli spp (n =
Comment
The realization that genetic information derived from nucleic acid analysis (genotype) could be useful for the detection and identification of microorganisms has been a major conceptual advance in modern microbiology. This approach has been used for detecting the presence of microorganisms that could not be identified by culture techniques, the classification of bacteria on the basis of their evolutionary relationships, and the discovery of the causative microorganisms for several diseases such
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External quality assessment for molecular detection of Ureaplasma urealyticum in China
2024, Clinica Chimica ActaAcute histologic chorioamnionitis independently and directly increases the risk for brain abnormalities seen on magnetic resonance imaging in very preterm infants
2022, American Journal of Obstetrics and GynecologyPrenatal origins of the infant gut microbiome
2021, The Human Microbiome in Early Life: Implications to Health and DiseaseThe nature of the immune response in microbial-associated and sterile intraamniotic inflammation
2021, Reproductive Immunology: Basic ConceptsVaginal microbiota associated with preterm delivery
2020, Journal of Infection and ChemotherapyCitation Excerpt :Human vaginal microbiota currently seem to have a role in causing or defending against BV [3]. The presence of Gardnerella vaginalis in the vagina was associated with BV in non-pregnant women [4], while the presence of Ureaplasma and Myocplasma species in the amniotic fluid increased the risk of preterm delivery and chorioamnionitis [5–9]. A recent study reported that the vaginal microbiome profiles in healthy pregnant women shifted toward Lactbacillus-dominant states during early pregnancy [10].
Antibiotic administration can eradicate intra-amniotic infection or intra-amniotic inflammation in a subset of patients with preterm labor and intact membranes
2019, American Journal of Obstetrics and GynecologyCitation Excerpt :One argument against the analysis of amniotic fluid has been that results were not immediately available to affect patient management, as culture for microorganisms may take several days. However, rapid tests are now available for the diagnosis of intra-amniotic inflammation (such as amniotic fluid white blood cell count, glucose, amniotic fluid MMP-8, or interleukin-6, among others),4,19,38,53,60,126,127,167,176,177,179–184 and for the diagnosis of infection using PCR.8,23,123,140,185–188 The evidence that intra-amniotic infection is causally linked to spontaneous preterm labor and delivery coalesced in the 1980s;2,3,13,14,144,189,190 this led to the conduct of several randomized clinical trials in which patients with an episode of preterm labor were allocated to antimicrobial agents vs placebo or no treatment.73,74,77–80,82,191–194
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Supported by grant 01-PJ1-PG1-01CH07-0002 from the 2001 Korea Health 21 R&D Project, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea.
Presented at the Twenty-third Annual Meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, San Francisco, Calif, February 3-8, 2003.