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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New research has some experts ruling out bacterial infection as a primary cause of premature births.
Azithromycin is an antibiotic currently used worldwide to treat infections such as syphilis, chlamydia and Ureaplasma urealyticum, a bacterial infection researchers believed to be a root cause of premature labor. Researchers at Liverpool University tested whether using this drug to treat bacteria before it is detected would prevent early childbirths, defined as births before 37 weeks of gestation.
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"Infection can occur early in pregnancy and remain undetected, so one way of reducing incidences of preterm labor may be to administer antibiotics before patients display any signs of infection," Jim Neilson, professor at Liverpool University's School of Reproductive and Developmental Medicine, was quoted as saying. "Our study showed, however, that treating infection with azithromycin had no impact on reducing incidences of preterm labor."
Researchers treated half of 2,000 women with the oral antibiotic and half with a placebo. No significant difference between the two groups was seen in the outcome of pregnancies, categorizing the drug as ineffective in preventing premature births. Dr. Neilson says the results suggest preterm labor may not be caused by infections.
SOURCE: PLoS Medicine, 2009
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