Susceptibility of abortion patients to infection: Correlation to cervical flora.

Cervical bacterial microflora was studied with a semiquantitative method in 29 women both before and after the termination of their pregnancy. The main findings were high prevalence of anaerobic bacteria (in 72%-79% of the specimens) consisting predominantly of Bacteroides species and anaerobic Gram-positive cocci, and low prevalence of aerobic bacteria (in 24%-38% of the specimens). Among the other microbes studied, the prevalence of Chlamydia excretors was high (24%), probably reflecting a promiscuous study population. Seventeen percent of the women developed febrile postabortion endometritis or salpingits. However, the cervical culture results predicted neither the patient prone to infection nor her response to antimicrobial treatment, suggesting the need for more data concerning the virulence properties of the bacteria, together with isolation of the organism from an infected site.