Puerperal Infection: A General Review

Abstract

The Puerperal infection includes all abnormal conditions resulting from the entrance of organisms into the genital tract during labour or the puerperium. Puerperal infection has been recognized for many hundreds of years, and was mentioned by both Hippocrates and Galen in their works. Later, in the seventeenth century, Willis, in England, wrote a treatise on the subject as it occurred at that time. About the middle of the nineteenth century interest in this subject was aroused, as at that time about 15 per cent of all patients delivered in institutions died of this disease. Semmelweis, working in Vienna, showed that puerperal infection was identical with wound infection. Pasteur cultivated organisms from cases, and later Lister showed the value of antiseptic methods in midwifery. From this short historical survey one realizes that it was not until the latter half of the nineteenth century that our present views on this subject began to emerge. So in this article ,A conceptual study of puerperial infection is explained in detail to understand its basics.