Ureaplasmosis occurs as a result of exposure to ureaplasma, which are bacteria, the habitat of which is the mucosa of the urinary tract and the genital organs of man. Researchers refer them either to conditionally-pathogenic or to pathogenic organisms.
Most often this infection is transmitted sexually. But in some cases, ureaplasmosis can be transmitted from an infected mother to her child during pregnancy or during childbirth, after which the infection can be in the child's body, up to a certain point without showing itself.
Symptoms of ureaplasmosis during pregnancy
The period from the moment of infection to the body before the first manifestation of the disease can range from several days to six months. Microorganisms penetrate the human genitourinary system and there wait for the moment to strike. However, even after the end of the incubation period, the manifestations of infection may be absent, hardly noticeable, or resemble the manifestations of any other infections of the urinary tract of an inflammatory nature. Most often, such inconspicuous behavior from infection can be expected if it is in the body of a woman. In most cases, ureaplasmosis is diagnosed during examination for painful frequent urination, pain in the lower abdomen, infertility, vaginal discharge, etc.
Ureaplasmosis in pregnancy
Since at the moment there is no evidence of a connection between pregnancy complications and the presence of ureaplasma in the cervix, mandatory examination of ureaplasma during pregnancy is not carried out. In America and Europe, healthy pregnant women are not tested for urea- and mycoplasmosis. This is possible only for research purposes, at the expense of the clinic.
On the territory of Russia, there is a practice when pregnant women are prescribed "additional" examination (and for a fee), in many cases they discover ureaplasma, since for some women this is normal vaginal flora, and begin treatment, which consists in taking the course of antibiotics, appointed as woman, and her sexual partner. In some cases, antibiotics are taken together with immunomodulators. During treatment it is recommended to refrain from sexual contacts.
However, antibiotics are only able to reduce the number of microorganisms for a while, so even after passing several courses of treatment, the tests can show the same result. What makes us think about the advisability of such treatment, since antibiotics, which have side effects, are unlikely to work well on the body during pregnancy.
In fact, if as a result of the study only the Uraliticum strain (the same ureaplasma) was detected and there are no complaints at the pregnant woman, then treatment is not required. It can be prescribed only if there is a combination of mycoplasmosis, chlamydia and ureaplasmosis, since in this case the infection can reach the amniotic fluid and amniotic fluid, causing the corresponding problems, such as premature birth, amniotic fluid, fetal infection, e. The partner is also recommended to undergo a course of treatment, during which it is necessary to refrain from having sexual intercourse.
Treatment for the detection of only one ureaplasma can be prescribed from the considerations that sometimes this infection can lead to the emergence of neonatal or congenital pneumonia (neonatal pneumonia develops in the child in the first month after childbirth, with the congenital child is born with the disease).
However, at the moment, medicine can not say for sure which of the infected Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis during pregnancy is at risk of having a baby with this or that type of pneumonia, and who does not. The very fact of the presence in the vagina of these microbes does not mean that the child will necessarily have pneumonia. Because of this, the study of pregnant women for ureaplasmosis and mycoplasmosis is not a justified measure, since absolutely all healthy children are born with the majority of pregnant women with Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis.