ABSTRACT
"Puerperal infection" and "puerperal sepsis" are usually limited to genital tract infections that follow and result from labor, delivery, or abortion. An important risk factor for puerperal sepsis is socioeconomic status: indigent women have higher than normal rates of infection. In a recent study, more than 80 percent of cases of puerperal endometritis were found to involve more than one species of organism. In the 1930s, obstetricians believed that puerperal sepsis was ordinarily due to streptococci that were endogenous to the birth canal. This meant that the physicians themselves were not responsible for most cases of the disease and that they could do little or nothing to prevent it. Penicillin and its numerous derivatives are generally effective against group A streptococci, and they remain the drugs of choice for dealing with most cases of puerperal sepsis. At present, puerperal sepsis is usually treated with a combination of different antibiotics.
