Anaerobes and septic abortion.

The bacterial flora of the genital tracts of twenty-two patients with septic abortion and twenty normal women (as controls) were studied to determine the significant aetiological agents. The predominant flora qualitatively and quantitatively in the twenty-two patients were anaerobes. Bacteroides bivius was isolated from all the twenty-two patients and from twelve out of twenty normal controls. The next commonest anaerobes were B. asaccharolyticus (fourteen out of twenty-two patients), B. melaninogenicus (ten out of twenty-two), B. fragilis (eleven out of twenty-two), B. disiens (eight out of twenty-two) and anaerobic cocci (six out of twenty-two); they were also isolated from nine out of twenty, twelve, zero, eight and three control subjects respectively. The commonest facultative bacteria isolated from both the patients and afebrile controls were Escherichia coli, Klebsiella aerogenes and Streptococcus faecalis. The comparative increase in number of patients colonized by the anaerobes and the increase in the bacteria, by quantitative assessment in the patient group, signify the importance of anaerobes in septic abortion.