Science File / An exploration of issues and trends affecting science, medicine and the environment : Giving Antibiotics for Infection Can Cut Risk of Premature Birth
From Times staff and wire reports
Among pregnant women suffering from an undetected vaginal bacteria infection, treatment with two antibiotics can reduce the likelihood that their babies will be born prematurely, Alabama researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. The infection, called bacterial vaginosis, tends to be found in women who are poor or unmarried or who have previously delivered an underweight baby.
The research team gave the antibiotics metronidazole and erythromycin to 433 pregnant women with a history of delivering prematurely. An additional 191 were given a placebo. Among women with the vaginal infection, 49% of those taking the placebo had a premature delivery, but only 31% of those who received antibiotics delivered early.
