Transmission of mother's microflora to the newborn at birth.

Our aim was to study the initial microbial colonization of the newborns by comparing it with their mothers' vaginal microflora. Nineteen mother-newborn pairs were examined at delivery. We found a close association, both qualitative and quantitative, between the individually different microflora of a mother's vagina and that of her newborn. The degree of contamination of the newborn significantly correlated with the counts of microorganisms found in the vagina of mothers. In 85% of investigated individual mother-newborn pairs we revealed similar predominant microorganisms. There were no cases of the mothers and their newborns harbouring similar potentially pathogenic prevailing microorganisms.