Infections, preterm delivery, and perinatal death in midgestation.

Amniotic fluid infection results in considerable pregnancy wastage in the second and early third trimesters. In our study of 1119 perinatal autopsies amniotic sac infection was associated with death in 133 fetuses and neonates in midgestation. These cases accounted for almost 12% of all perinatal autopsies and for 20% of all perinatal autopsies in midgestation at Women and Infants Hospital during the past decade. Gram-positive organisms, especially coagulase negative staphylococcus, group B streptococcus and Streptococcus viridans, were the most common pathogens isolated.