Infection and Drug Resistance (Apr 2024)
Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of Neonatal Ureaplasma urealyticum Infection
Abstract
Jun’e Ma,1,* Zhenhui Wang,1,* Chuanjin Luo,2 Jin’ou Xi,1 Xiaojing Wang,1 Yan Hu,1 Chengliang Zhu,3 Zhengjiang Jin1 1Department of Clinical Laboratory, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China; 2State Key Laboratory of Virology College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430060, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Clinical Laboratory, Institute of Translational Medicine, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430060, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Zhengjiang Jin, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected] Chengliang Zhu, Department of Clinical Laboratory, Institute of Translational Medicine, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430060, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: To understand the epidemiology and clinical features of Ureaplasma urealyticum (UU) infection in hospitalized neonates due to vertical transmission from mother to child.Methods: Respiratory secretions were collected from neonates hospitalized in the neonatology department of the Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province from July 2020 to June 2022, and PCR was used to detect UU-DNA in respiratory secretions. The neonates were divided into UU-positive and UU-negative groups, the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of two groups, were statistically analyzed.Results: A total of 7257 hospitalized neonates were included in this study, of whom 561 were UU positive and 6696 were UU negative, with a UU detection rate of 7.73%. The detection rate among female neonates was higher than male neonates, and the highest detection rate was found in the period from 1– 7 days after birth; the detection rate was highest in spring and fall, and the lowest in winter, but the overall difference was not statistically significant (P> 0.05). Compared with the UU-negative group, neonates in the UU-positive group were more likely to be preterm, have a lower birth weight, be delivered vaginally, and have maternal preterm rupture of membranes. In addition, neonates in the UU-positive group were more likely to be co-infected with pathogens and to have complications related to UU infections, which were all statistically significant (P< 0.05).Conclusion: Neonatal UU infections are detected more frequently in female infants, with the highest detection rate occurring in 1– 7 days after birth, and the most prevalent periods for infection being spring and fall. Vaginal delivery and premature rupture of membranes may lead to an increased risk of vertical UU transmission from mother to child, and UU infection is strongly associated with preterm labor, low birth weight, pathogen co-infection, and related complications.Keywords: Ureaplasma urealyticum, neonates, infection, epidemiology, clinical characteristics, co-infection
