RESUMEN
Acute bacterial intraamniotic infections are an important cause of perinatal morbidity and death. Although early diagnosis and aggressive treatment are believed to decrease the ill effects of intraamniotic infection, this goal is frequently difficult to achieve because the infection may not be clinically apparent before delivery in all patients. In this respect, the current study was designed to assess the potential role of CSF-l as a predictor of infection induced rupture membrane whether term or preterm. Collectively 75 amniotic fluid samples were obtained through caesarian section [C.S.] route of delivery. Fifty of them were from women suffering from premature rupture of membrane [PROM] [25 preterm and 25 full term] as well as 25 full term women with intact membranes served as controls. Bacterial cultures, chlamydial LPS antigen, mycoplasma and CSF-l detections revealed a significant association of bacterial infections and CSF-l with PROM deliveries [term and preterm] compared to the controls. A significant increase in CSF-l values were observed among PROM cases compared to the controls. CSF-l values were higher among preterm cases than full term ones and among positive amniotic fluid bacterial culture cases compared to negative culture ones. The highest CSF-l values were with ordinary bacterial infections and the least were with mycoplasmal and ureaplasmal ones