puerperal fever

American  

noun

Pathology.

1. a systemic bacterial infection of the endometrium characterized by fever, rapid heartbeat, uterine tenderness, and malodorous discharge, chiefly occurring in women after childbirth, usually as the result of unsterile obstetric procedures.

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puerperal fever British  

noun

1. a serious, formerly widespread, form of blood poisoning caused by infection contracted during childbirth

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Etymology

Origin of puerperal fever

First recorded in 1760–70

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

puerperal fever

Semmelweis, once described as a “savior of mothers,” discovered that cases of puerperal fever could be significantly cut by washing hands before surgery.

From New York Times ● Jul. 25, 2018

Tolstoy’s wife Sofia almost died when she contracted puerperal fever after her fifth delivery, but he impregnated her again and again.

From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2016

And Van Wyck Brooks praised old Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes's book on puerperal fever by saying that it had probably saved as many human lives as Bowditch's book.

From Time Magazine Archive

If women were not rendered barren by the bacterium, there were always the risks of childbirth and puerperal fever.

From Time Magazine Archive

The total number of deaths to the entire number of confinements was, then, at least in the proportion of 1:85, or, from puerperal fever alone, in the proportion of 1:146.

From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various