Vaginal and Rectal Carriage of Clostridium Sordellii & Perfringens
Clostridial species, sordellii and perfringens specifically, have emerged recently as serious pathogens among women of reproductive age. Since 2001, these bacteria have claimed the lives of 13 previously healthy women in the United States. While extremely rare, such infections are nonetheless alarming, because they strike healthy women and also, because of their rapid, fatal course, in the absence of traditional signs of infection.
The most publicized of the Clostridia cases have followed medical abortions, and as a result, some clinics in the United States have changed their policies for offering the procedure. Available clinical and epidemiological research does not show a specific causal pathway linking use of mifepristone or misoprostol to development of clostridial infection. In general, data on the prevalence and correlates of clostridial colonization are lacking, and information on the etiology and lethality of clostridial pelvic infection are insufficient to guide recommendations for safe and effective treatment or prevention.
In order to fill this knowledge gap, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Gynuity has developed a large project to establish the epidemiology and character of vaginal and rectal clostridial colonization among women of reproductive age in the U.S.