Infection As a Cause of Neonatal Brain Damage Infection that occurs during pregnancy involves maternal, intrauterine (amniotic fluid, membranes, placenta, decidua), and fetal tissue. These infections are a major cause…
Subclinical Infection as a Cause of Premature Labor Preterm birth, with its subsequent morbidity and mortality, is the leading perinatal problem in the United States. In 2004, the rate of…
Intra-Amniotic Infection In the last 5 years, exciting new information regarding intraamniotic infection (IAI) has developed. It previously had been stated that clinically evident intrauterine infection occurred in approximately 1%…
Premature Rupture of the Membranes Premature rupture of the fetal membranes (PROM) is one of the most common problems in obstetrics, complicating approximately 5% to 10% of term pregnancies and…
Perinatal Infections VIRUSES Rubella Rubella (also known as German measles) is usually a mild viral illness with fever, postauricular or suboccipital lymphadenopathy, arthralgia, and a transient erythematous rash. It has…
Urinary Tract Infection Urinary tract infections (UTIs) in women remain an important public health problem in the United States, affecting approximately 11 million women annually at a cost of $1.6…
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is a spectrum of upper genital tract inflammatory disorders that includes any combination of endometritis, salpingitis, tubo-ovarian abscess, and pelvic peritonitis. In general,…
Postabortion Infection, Bacteremia, Sepsis, and Septic Shock Even though these life-threatening infections are encountered infrequently by obstetrician-gynecologists, we play a key role in the outcomes. Although these patients are often…
Infectious Vulvovaginitis Vulvovaginal burning, discharge, odor, itching, and dyspareunia, account for a considerable proportion of outpatient gynecologic visits. In many cases, the diagnosis is straightforward: candidiasis, bacterial vaginosis (BV) or…
Toxic Shock Syndrome Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is an acute-onset illness characterized by early onset of multiorgan involvement and shock. Whereas septic shock caused by Gram-negative bacterial infections usually occurs…
