Clostridium septicum infection in a young pregnant patient

Abstract

This report describes a young pregnant woman who presented to a rural emergency department with vaginal bleeding at 7 weeks of gestation. Initially, the patient was stable; however, within 8 h the patient deteriorated into fulminant septic shock. She required aggressive resuscitation and surgical management of a septic abortion. The patient's condition improved rapidly following surgical evacuation of the uterus with dilatation and curettage. She has had no long-term sequelae. Blood and tissue cultures returned positive for Clostridium septicum. To the best of our knowledge, this is the only reported case of survival from C septicum infection in a pregnant woman and highlights the importance of improved awareness and management of such infections by the medical community so that future cases can achieve similarly successful outcomes. Copyright 2012 BMJ Publishing Group. All rights reserved.