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“The contagiousness of childbed fever”: a short history of puerperal sepsis and its treatment
Author(s) -
De Costa Caroline M
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2002.tb05004.x
Subject(s) - obstetrics and gynaecology , citation , medicine , library science , computer science , pregnancy , genetics , biology
TODAY, A VERY LARGE proportion of women giving birth receive antibiotics, potent and sometimes in combination, during their accouchement. Routine prophylaxis is widely accepted for caesarean sections, which account for 20%– 25% of deliveries.1 Of course, any pregnant woman presenting with an obvious infection will automatically receive an antibiotic. Further, so will most pregnant women with membranes ruptured for any length of time, either before or after labour begins, and any woman in labour with a raised temperature. There is also a more relaxed approach to many former midwifery routines — for example, the abandoning of masks and gowns and the admission of several support people to the delivery scene — which could diminish both younger obstetricians’ and midwives’ appreciation of the potentially deadly risk of puerperal infection. However, until relatively recently in developed countries, and still in many developing countries, puerperal sepsis was and is a killer.2