Pregnant women and new mothers need to be more alert to the signs of potentially fatal sepsis, according to a study from the University of Oxford. Sepsis, triggered by infection, is the leading cause of death among new mothers in the UK.
Researchers analysed 365 cases of maternal sepsis between June 2011 and May 2012, during which five women died. While most women recover with antibiotics, severe sepsis should be treated as a medical emergency.
Professor Marian Knight from the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit stressed that antibiotics do not always prevent severe sepsis. 'The majority of women who get an infection during or after pregnancy will get better quickly,' she said. 'However, a small number go on to develop severe sepsis or septic shock even after taking antibiotics.'
She advised women who do not improve after antibiotics—continuing to have high fevers, extreme shivering, or pain—to seek urgent further advice from their doctor or midwife.
Dr Ronald Lamont of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists highlighted the issue of antibiotic resistance. 'We tend to think infection can be cured by antibiotics but this study is telling us that women are still dying in and after childbirth from infection,' he said.
