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The Tragedy of Childbed Fever$
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Irvine Loudon

Print publication date: 2000

Print ISBN-13: 9780198204992

Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011

DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198204992.001.0001

Puerperal Fever in the Early Twentieth Century

Chapter:
(p. 151 ) 10 Puerperal Fever in the Early Twentieth Century
Source:
The Tragedy of Childbed Fever
Author(s):

Irvine Loudon

Publisher:
Oxford University Press
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198204992.003.0010

This chapter discusses the reduction in puerperal fever mortality in Great Britain during the 20th century. The improvement in the prevention and treatment of the disease is attributed to the development of vaccines, antisepsis, and important research on the biology of the streptococcus. Between 1890 and 1912, maternal mortality was significantly reduced. From about twenty-five deaths for every 10,000 births in the 1890s it was reduced to only about thirteen or fourteen in England and Wales and sixteen or seventeen in Scotland.

Keywords:   puerperal fever, mortality, Great Britain, vaccines, antisepsis, streptococcus, maternal mortality

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