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Antibiotics after assisted childbirth could almost halve maternal infections

BMJ 2019; 365 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l2188 (Published 13 May 2019) Cite this as: BMJ 2019;365:l2188
  1. Elisabeth Mahase
  1. The BMJ

Giving women a single dose of preventive antibiotic after childbirth involving forceps or vacuum extraction could prevent almost half of maternal infections, equivalent to more than 7000 every year in the UK and around 5000 in the US.

The finding came from a randomised trial involving 3420 women from 27 obstetric units in the UK.1 The higher estimated benefit in in the UK than in the US is because of its higher proportion of assisted births: about 12.5% in the UK and 4% in the US.

The study also found that for every additional 100 doses of preventive antibiotic …

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