[Maternal-fetal Haemophilus influenzae infections]

In a systematic screening programme for neonatal infections involving 16,008 births, Haemophilus influenzae was isolated in 14 mother-infant couples (0.8 to 1,000 births). Comparisons with other series published in the U.S.A. showed similar circumstances of occurrence and initial clinical manifestations. However, the course of the infection was different, since there was no septicaemia or meningitis in our series. This raises the question of whether the strains responsible for the disease in the U.S.A. have a particular aggressiveness that is unidentifiable by serotype or biotype. In view of the post-partum occurrence of pelvic infections after isolation of H. influenzae during high risk deliveries, asymptomatic parturient women should be treated prophylactically. The 14 strains of H. influenzae isolated, most of them non capsulated and 2/3 of them of biotype IV, probably were of genital origin, although there was no evidence of cervico-vaginal infection. These results are consistent with the concept of genitotropic H. influenzae.