In plain words
Puerperal fever is a that comes from infection. The word puerperal means the period after birth. Common sources include the lining of the uterus, a wound, the breast, and the urinary tract. Puerperal fever complicates a small share of births, and it was once a major cause of . Today it is usually treated with antibiotics once the source is found. Signs include fever, chills, pain in the belly or breast, foul-smelling discharge, and feeling very unwell. A fever after birth needs a same-day call to your provider. A fever with fast breathing, a racing heart, confusion, or is an emergency: call 911.
The deeper version
Puerperal fever is a postpartum fever of infectious origin, most often , , , or urinary tract infection. The name derives from nineteenth-century work by Semmelweis and others on childbed fever, as described in Loudon's history of maternal mortality (Death in Childbirth, 1992). The WHO recommendations on maternal peripartum infections (2015) address prevention, diagnosis, and empiric antibiotic treatment. Sepsis is the main threat, and the differential includes , which can present similarly. The main controversy concerns the duration of antibiotics and the role of routine postpartum screening in low-risk births.
Where it comes up
- Signs of infection after birthPostpartum: Your Body
- Night sweats, chills, and the hormone dropPostpartum: Your Body
- Cesarean recovery, week by weekPostpartum: Your Body
- Keeping ducts clear: prevention habitsFeeding Your Baby
- Blood clots: the signs to knowPostpartum: Your Body
What mothers here say about puerperal fever
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Sources
- World Health Organization — WHO recommendations for prevention and treatment of maternal peripartum infections (2015)
- Loudon I — Death in Childbirth: An International Study of Maternal Care and Maternal Mortality, 1800-1950 (Oxford University Press, 1992)