Chlamydia trachomatis infection in mothers and infants. A prospective study.

The incidence of chlamydia trachomatis infection of the cervix during pregnancy was found to be 18% in a group of 1,327 women attending the prenatal clinic of a large urban hospital. There were no statistically significant differences between infected and uninfected women in the type or frequency of complications of pregnancy. Chlamydial infection was demonstrated in 27 (28%) of 95 infants born vaginally to infected mothers. Conjunctival infection in these infants was detected earlier than nasopharyngeal infection and the conjunctivae appeared to be the usual portal of entry for the organism. Infants were observed through the age of 12 weeks. Conjunctivae, but the chlamydial pneumonia syndrome occurred in only three (17%) of 18 infants with nasopharyngeal infection.