[Intrauterine infections in the perinatal period].

The results of examinations of autopsy materials in Leningrad and the data from the literature indicate that infectious diseases occupy a significant place in perinatal mortality. It is emphasized that if the autopsy materials are not sufficiently examined using not only light but also immunofluorescent microscopy, a considerable portion of these infections is not diagnosed and the pathological proprocess in such cases in considered to be aspiration pneumonia, hyaline membrane disease, etc. The paper briefly characterizes intrauterine bacterial infections (listeriasis, syphilis, staphylococcal infections, etc.) with special reference to virus diseases (cytomegaly, herpes infection, lesions caused by respiratory viruses, etc) and mycoplasmosis. It is shown that a relatively high incidence of lesions is caused by respiratory viruses and particularly mycoplasma. The possibility of protozoan and mycotic lesions is also indicated. The frequent occurrence of combined intrauterine infections is emphasized.