{"doi":"10.1515/jpm-2021-0191","title":"Bacteria in the amniotic fluid without inflammation: early colonization vs. contamination","abstract":"OBJECTIVES: Intra-amniotic infection, defined by the presence of microorganisms in the amniotic cavity, is often accompanied by intra-amniotic inflammation. Occasionally, laboratories report the growth of bacteria or the presence of microbial nucleic acids in amniotic fluid in the absence of intra-amniotic inflammation. This study was conducted to determine the clinical significance of the presence of bacteria in amniotic fluid samples in the absence of intra-amniotic inflammation. METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study included 360 patients with preterm labor and intact membranes who underwent transabdominal amniocentesis for evaluation of the microbial state of the amniotic cavity as well as intra-amniotic inflammation. Cultivation techniques were used to isolate microorganisms, and broad-range polymerase chain reaction coupled with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (PCR/ESI-MS) was utilized to detect the nucleic acids of bacteria, viruses, and fungi. RESULTS: Patients whose amniotic fluid samples evinced microorganisms but did not indicate inflammation had a similar perinatal outcome to those without microorganisms or inflammation [amniocentesis-to-delivery interval (p=0.31), spontaneous preterm birth before 34 weeks (p=0.83), acute placental inflammatory lesions (p=1), and composite neonatal morbidity (p=0.8)]. CONCLUSIONS: The isolation of microorganisms from a sample of amniotic fluid in the absence of intra-amniotic inflammation is indicative of a benign condition, which most likely represents contamination of the specimen during the collection procedure or laboratory processing rather than early colonization or infection.","journal":"Journal of Perinatal Medicine","year":2021,"id":175556,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":22,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9657,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":236857,"name":"Roberto Romero","orcid":"0000-0002-4448-5121","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":240940,"name":"Bo Hyun Yoon","orcid":"0000-0001-6838-9313","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":463547,"name":"Kevin R. Theis","orcid":"0000-0002-8690-7599","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":346214,"name":"Dereje W. Gudicha","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":236858,"name":"Adi L. Tarca","orcid":"0000-0003-1712-7588","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":240937,"name":"Ramiro Diaz‐Primera","orcid":"0000-0002-4020-5794","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":463548,"name":"Andrew D. Winters","orcid":"0000-0003-1439-9406","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":236861,"name":"Nardhy Gomez‐Lopez","orcid":"0000-0002-3406-5262","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":240936,"name":"Lami Yeo","orcid":"0000-0001-6389-0993","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":334160,"name":"Chaur‐Dong Hsu","orcid":"0000-0002-9642-470X","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":240935,"name":"Eunjung Jung","orcid":"0000-0003-0897-0039","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":217,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:47:15.431199Z","pmid":"34229367","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}