WASHINGTON – Infections may force premature birth, says a new study that found one out of seven women in pre-term labor invaded bacteria or fungi in their amniotic fluid. This small study does not prove that the germs provoke the early labor.

But Monday’s research used specialized lab tests to find out microbes, which missed by ordinary methods, and exposed more women with prevalent infections than previously estimated.

The intensity of infection increases the chances of a woman to deliver underweight, sicker baby, researchers reported.

“We don’t think any organisms belong in the amniotic sac,” said Dr. David Relman, the study’s author. “You’d have to assume there’s something wrong.”

Around one million babies are born premature per year, yet doctors are unaware of the cause of most preterm births. Those born before 32 weeks suffer the greatest risk of mortality or severe disabilities.
Vaginal or urinary tract infections (UTI) are well-known to raise the risk of premature birth, apparently by causing inflammation that consecutively triggers labor.

But infections play how much role, particularly those that don’t cause superficial symptoms, has been a key question, said Dr. Michael Katz, who wasn’t part of the new study.

So the Stanford team tried a different school of thought.

They collect saved samples of amniotic fluid of women who had preterm labor at a Detroit hospital between 1998 and 2002. Around 15 percent of the women infected with bacteria or fungi, and those who did all delivered prematurely. Relman used more advance testing known as PCR to find and reproduce bits of genetic material from germs. By adding PCR tests, 56 percent more infected women detected than standard testing.

“It’s a very, very important first step, but there are still many hurdles” the researchers said.

Now researchers are trying to know that, can harboring germs predicts who will go into preterm labor? Now Relman’s team is studying 2,000 women who get routine amniocentesis in their second trimester, to answer that.

If so, then the questions will arise, where those germs instigate, whether there’s a simple way to find who’s at risk, and if there’s any treatment that might help.

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