infectious diseases
Clostridial Intra Abdominal and Pelvic Infections
Key Points
Clostridial intra-abdominal and pelvic infections are serious and sometimes fatal. Like other abdominal infections, clostridial abdominal infections cause pain, fever, and abdominal tenderness, and patients have a toxic appearance. Patients with a clostridial uterine infection may have a foul-smelling, bloody vaginal discharge; gas sometimes escapes through the cervix. Early diagnosis of clostridial infections requires a high index of suspicion and early and repeated Gram staining and cultures of the samples from the site and samples of pus, lochia, and blood. Treat with surgical debridement and high-dose penicillin or other antibiotics (carbapenems, beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitors,metronidazole,clindamycin). 