Prophylaxis in labor
Table 4 describes the characteristics of the women who either received
or not antibiotics during labor and subsequently developed puerperal GAS
infection. Those who received antibiotic prophylaxis during labor for
various reasons (primarily due to a positive GBS screen or a caesarean
delivery) had significantly lower rates of a subsequent STSS [0 vs 10
(22.7%), P = 0.04], although the time from delivery to septic
presentation was significantly longer (8 ± 4.8 vs 4.8 ± 4.2), P =
0.008). Of note, other complications, such as admission to the ICU and
need to undergo laparotomy/explorative laparoscopy and hysterectomy were
more numerous in those cases but the values did not reach a level of
statistical significance.