INITIAL AEROBIC FLORA OF NEWBORN (PREMATURE) INFANTS

Abstract

A number of studies published within the past twenty years report the initial flora of the upper respiratory tracts of newborn infants. There is general agreement with respect to the bacterial types constituting the basal flora but a difference of opinion as regards their derivation and the presence of such pathogens as the beta hemolytic streptococci, the pneumococci and the influenza bacillus. This investigation¹was undertaken to clarify the latter point and to determine more definitely the sources of the initial flora and the modes of transmission to the respiratory tracts of newborn infants. The sterility or near sterility of this region in the majority of infants at birth simplifies the conditions of such a study of transmission by contact. The environmental conditions also permitted observations on the influence of ultraviolet irradiation of the air of a room on the initial flora. This study differs further from previous ones