Chorioamnionitis is a common complication of pregnancy associated with significant maternal, perinatal, and long-term adverse outcomes. Adverse maternal outcomes include postpartum infections and sepsis while adverse infant outcomes include stillbirth, premature birth, neonatal sepsis, chronic lung disease and brain injury leading to cerebral palsy and other neurodevelopmental disabilities. Research in the last two decades has expanded our understanding of the mechanistic links between intraamniotic infection and preterm delivery as well as morbidities of preterm and term infants. Recent and ongoing clinical research into better methods for diagnosing, treating and preventing chorioamnionitis is likely to have a substantial impact on short and long-term outcomes in the neonate.