Illnesses in infants born to women with Chlamydia trachomatis infection. A prospective study

C. Schaefer, H. R. Harrison, W. T. Boyce and M. Lewis

Chlamydia trachomatis is known to cause infant pneumonitis and conjunctivitis and is a suspected cause of otitis media and gastroenteritis. To identify infections associated with exposure to C trachomatis, infant illnesses were studied through a "blinded" review of medical records of 244 infants born to women cultured antenatally for cervical C trachomatis, 25% of whom had C trachomatis-positive cultures. Compared with unexposed infants, infants exposed to C trachomatis had twice the rate of both pneumonitis and recurrent otitis media in the first six months. Infants who were exposed to C trachomatis and who had pneumonitis had higher subsequent rates of gastroenteritis than either unexposed infants or exposed infants without pneumonitis. These results suggest that appreciable outpatient infant morbidity may be associated with maternal infection with C trachomatis, and that it may either cause or promote the occurrence of early, recurrent otitis media and gastroenteritis.