Urinary infection in two selected neonatal populations.

The urines from 204 infants admitted to a neonatal special care unit and from 25 infants whose mothers had bacteriuria in the last trimester of pregnancy were cultured and examined for white cells. A comparison of 39 bag collected urines with suprapubic specimens showed that growth in a bag collection was usually due to contamination, and that the presence of more than 10 WBC/cu.mm. in the suprapubic aspirate was not usually associated with a positive culture. Only 2 infants from a total of 70 studied in the special care unit had more than 100,000 organisms/ml. with more than 10 WBC/cu.mm. in the bladder urine. All urines, which were obtained from infants whose mothers had bacteriuria in the last trimester of pregnancy, were sterile. These results support the view that neonatal urinary infection is uncommon and that infants of this age is not justified.