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To help characterize the prevalence of bacteremia during pregnancy, an academic hospital initiated a policy of obtaining blood cultures in all pregnant women with fevers ≥100.4º F (and immediately starting antibiotics if appropriate). From 2009 through 2015, 56,835 women delivered and 3797 required blood cultures.
Among the women with blood cultures, 120 had bacteremia. Clinical diagnoses included intrapartum chorioamnionitis (65%), postpartum endometritis (27%), urinary tract infection (4%), wound infection (2%), and single cases of bowel perforation, ruptured appendix, and pneumonia. The most commonly cultured bacteria were Escherichia coli (18%), Bacteroides species (11%), Enterococcus species (11%), group B streptococci (11%), and group …