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.