[Aerodigestive colonization of the newborn infant in intensive care units]

Usually axenic in utero the child, very soon after birth, is subjected to a physiological bacterial colonization originating from maternal fecal flora and the human and maternal environment. Considerable variations in kinetics and nature of the digestive colonization are recorded in intensive care units due to different methods of feeding, stasis and the deleterious role of antibiotics. Contamination of the airway system can be of exogenous origin but also endogenous by pharyngeal proliferation or invasion by digestive bacteria as a result of reflux. Being respectful of rules of hygiene and awareness of individual ecology as well as that of the intensive care units, remain essential in order to control this colonization.