Open AccessBacteriological Findings And Clinical Symptoms
Author(s) -
Matheson Ingrid,
Aursnes Ivar,
Horgen Mette,
Aabø Øyvind,
Melby Kjetil
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
acta obstetricia et gynecologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1600-0412
pISSN - 0001-6349
DOI - 10.3109/00016349809004296
Subject(s) - medicine , mastitis , staphylococcus aureus , penicillin , antibiotics , coagulase , abscess , breast milk , surgery , staphylococcus , bacteria , pathology , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , chemistry , genetics , biology
Clinical symptoms, bacterial content in breast milk and treatment were recorded in 43 women in Oslo with puerperal mastitis. Patients with a favorable (n = 35) and unfavorable outcome (n = 8) (defined as abscess formation and/or symptom relief after more than 7 days) were compared. The group with unfavorable outcome was characterized by increased delay between symptoms and time for consultation, higher score of clinical symptoms and higher frequency of Staphylococcus aureus. A higher frequency of S. aureus was found in the affected breasts than in the unaffected breasts. There was no difference concerning the frequency of coagulase‐negative staphylococci and overall bacterial counts, either between milk from affected and non‐affected breasts, or between milk from non‐affected breasts and milk from healthy donors. The present investigation indicates that penicillin treatment is questionable when considering that untreated cases healed almost as quickly as treated ones, and that 70% of the S. aureus strains were resistant to phenoxymethylpenicillin. It is concluded that present bacterial examinations in breast milk are of limited help in deciding who needs antibiotic treatment.