Bacteria entering vagina causing miscarriage... is this common?

BTW - here is a link about it

https://www.babycenter.com/0_bacterial-vaginosis-bv-during-pregnancy_1427335.bc
 
As far as I was aware, the only way infections could be dangerous to baby is if you get an infection after your waters have broken? Otherwise, you just get a course of antibiotics. Could be wrong though!
this is my 4th pregnancy and i have never heard of this ever, got to admit when I read it i felt sick to the stomach, but common sense prevails a lot of people who are older and have stories or scare stories to tell, I wouldnt take no mind the baby is protected by the fluid the cervix is at the top of yr uterus and then there the mucus plug to get through and if you have ever lost yrs you would see its quite gooey and thick.
I think maybe this woman got confused and had a uti infection and was put on antibiotics, the only chance of infection is through yr waters getting infected and though this does happen it is still quite rare xx
 
Well i am on my 5th pregnancy and NEVER heard of this either. I think it must be something that is fairly rare and absolutely nothing for you to worry about. x
 
The mucous plug is there to protect from things getting into the cervix, and then even if they do, your membranes are sealed, too. Any infection in your body left untreated can cause preterm labor. But simply getting an infection doesn't cause it, and most especially just getting a little bacteria in there couldn't. There is good bacteria and bad bacteria, and the good bacteria kills the bad, so even if a little bad gets in there, it'll probably get killed long before it has a chance to even try to get near the cervix.

I also had BV and had a swab for it done right after having a transvaginal ultrasound. If the ultrasound could cause something like that by pushing bacteria into the cervix, I'd have certainly miscarried.
 
yeah if you google Bacterial Vaginosis it will tell you it can cause 2nd tri miscarriages but they are VERY rare. most women can get it a few times in one pregnancy. usually the doc just gives antibiotics and it will go away. if you are diagnosed w it and are devlivering at the same time they give the antibiotics through IV. its not a huge deal execpt in instances with women who ghave had preterm babies. BV can cause preterm labor in some women.
 
It is rare for it to occur, but yes, I am proof that a vaginal infection will end a pregnancy. BUT, it wasn't a miscarriage.... It caused labour and I delivered a live baby girl at 23+3. She died 40 minutes after birth.

The mechanism is this... There is bacteria inside your vagina, and there is bacteria on your skin around your anus, vagina etc... Things can get thrown out of balance in your vagina if bacteria enters your vagina from the perineal area. This can happen in a variety of ways... When a Dr does an internal exam, she is wearing a glove, but she can still push bacteria from outside, from your own skin, into the vaginal canal. Same with an internal ultrasound probe. Sex can cause the same thing, and if you have to insert anything into the vagina (IE/ progesterone suppositories, Canestan, whatever...), you run this risk whether you wear gloves or not.

Now, in healthy people, your own bacterial flora inside the vagina will take care of this. And yes, most people have a good plug and a good cervical length, and these combined act as a barrier to any bacteria trying to ascend.

But then there is someone like me. And I probably make up the top 1% of complicated obstetrical cases in BC (or so BC Women's have told me). The mechanism for me was this. I had a McDonald cerclage placed at 14 weeks. Everything was fine, and in stasis for weeks. There would have been some slight inflammation around the stitches, as your body will do that around anything foreign. But in itself, it was behaving fine. Then my Dr did an internal exam. And she was very vigorous, moving her fingers around quite hard etc. And then she did the internal ultrasound, and once again, she was very vigorous. Now, not only did she push my external bacteria into my vagina, but she further irritated the stitched off area. So add bacteria to an inflamed, possibly weeping area, and you have a bad situation. Add that to the fact that I was inserting prometrium suppositories into my vagina twice daily... and basically it created a perfect storm inside my vagina.

Now... add this to a Dr a who didn't believe I had an infection! I had my exam on Wednesday, and by Friday I was exhibiting signs of an infection. I went to an ER on Sunday, (it was a long weekend, and Drs weren't in clinic until Tuesday). The ER Dr said he didn't think I had an infection, and prescribed Flagyl only under duress from me, but she told me NOT to fill it until swabs came back on Tuesday. I had an appointment with my GP on Tuesday, he said I didn't have an infection, and told me NOT to take the medication. I went back on Wednesday, he still said I DID NOT have an infection. I ended up in the ER early Thursday morning, and my GP was on. I now had a pink and grey thick discharge. He finally agreed I had an infection. So this infection had a week to incubate.

I started oral antibiotics, when I should really have been on IV antibiotics. It was too late. The infection caused my cervix to weaken and dilate. Within 24 hours my cervix was gone (it started out at 3.2cm), and I was dilated to 1cm with membranes bulging, and I was in labour. I now had no barrier between the sac and the infection. The next day the infection burst the sac and entered inside. At this point the labour could not be stopped, nor would they try, as both me and Devon were in danger. When I delivered I was highly infected, as was Devon, as well as any remaining fluid, the tissue of the gestational sac, and my uterus was infected as well.

So yes, it does happen. But you can see that in my case, there was a lot of stuff that was done wrong, and I had the extenuating circumstance of already having a foreign body inside the vagina (the cerclage).

So yes, for this pregnancy, there is a nothing in, nothing out policy. This is to protect me and the baby. I am on daily antibiotics, and I am not allowed to have baths, just showers. I have not had any internal exams or scans, and after having my Sharodkur cerclage placed, I did a one week course of antibiotics to protect me.

I am, however, a complicated obstetrical case. For the vast majority of people, external bacteria inside the vagina, is not going to cause an issue. And yes, a post mortem on the placenta said it was Bacterial Vaginosis.
 
This does happen to some people, but typically in the third trimester when the cervix starts to open. Bacteria can cause the amnionic sac to inflame and prematurely rupture, causing premature labour.

You can avoid this by making sure to wipe front to back after using the bathroom.

Souces: I'm an MD.
 
I cant even begin to imagine how this could happen. First off there is the mucus plug, the closed cervix, and not to mention your bag of water. Thats three different forms of protection to the baby, I just dont see how this is possible.
 
Like I said, it doesn't happen to alot of people, but it did to me. The infection was so severe and left untreated by my Dr for so long (as he just didn't believe me, even though he never did any checks), so it irritated my cervix and caused dilation, which means I lost my mucous plug and my bag of waters were exposed. When it reached the bag of waters, it burst it and entered into the sac itself. And this was still with a cervical stitch in place. I ended up just tearing right through the stitch.
 
Well by all accounts i think its rare. Just make sure you wipe the proper way and leave that area well alone and i cant see there being anything to worry about.
 
I did some research into this, as I was scared to death by reading about it on here for a couple of days, and frankly a bit fed up to have just got over all the first tri anxieties only to have this to worry about. From what I read it is very rare, affecting less than 1 in 250 pregnancies, and risk factors include smoking, cerclage, very low body weight and possibly poor nutrition, and amniocentesis. So if you don't smoke, aren't very underweight and are taking your prenatal vitamins, don't have a stitch and haven't had a recent amnio, I'd say STOP WORRYING!!!! I am going to refuse to think about it. And even if you have these risk factors - 1 in 250! That's still really really low! And even if you're really, really unlucky and have this, there's still a good chance of the baby making it past 24 weeks as the medical research I read said that about 30% of pregnancies last more than 5 weeks after a premature rupture of membranes in the second tri. We are going to be ok!!!! :0)
 
I did some research into this, as I was scared to death by reading about it on here for a couple of days, and frankly a bit fed up to have just got over all the first tri anxieties only to have this to worry about. From what I read it is very rare, affecting less than 1 in 250 pregnancies, and risk factors include smoking, cerclage, very low body weight and possibly poor nutrition, and amniocentesis. So if you don't smoke, aren't very underweight and are taking your prenatal vitamins, don't have a stitch and haven't had a recent amnio, I'd say STOP WORRYING!!!! I am going to refuse to think about it. And even if you have these risk factors - 1 in 250! That's still really really low! And even if you're really, really unlucky and have this, there's still a good chance of the baby making it past 24 weeks as the medical research I read said that about 30% of pregnancies last more than 5 weeks after a premature rupture of membranes in the second tri. We are going to be ok!!!! :0)

Well said :) :)
 
only cos it scared the cr*p out of me until I read all that!!! :haha:
 
not only is your cervix closed, your baby is also protected from infection by your mucus plug, and the amniotic sac :flower:
don't worry
x
 
sherri81: I have seen you mention your story before, though there were new details this time I didn't see before. I want to apologize for not doing this sooner: :hugs: you are such a strong woman for being able to tell your story and continue on and keep trying and now you're pregnant again and doing so well. My heart goes out to you and your oh. You seem to be really proactive this time and not letting incompetent drs push you around and I say good for you! You are so brave and strong it makes me cry. I wish you and all the ladies here the best of luck in your pregnancies! :hugs:
 
EDIT: sorry, stupid cell phone double post during power outage...
 
Anyone lost baby with UreaPlasma? What is the treatment during pregnancy?
 
I had been sent to a perinatologist for a consult on why and how I lost my first baby . I had infection after infection . Bv, uti's, and yeast infection . Basically infection after infection . And two of them went untreated until a week before I had him at 19 weeks . The Perinatologist told me that is probably why I went into preterm labor and lost my son . He said when the infection gets into the uterus where the baby is it has nowhere to go after that . That's just one theory as of why I lost my son . There are many . My ob was a dumb ass that just graduated . Don't mean to scare . Just wanna inform . It's possible for it to happen .
 
I had a horrible yeast infection and BV infection during my first pregnancy. I had never suffered with either of those infections so I didn't recognize the symptoms, all I really had was a lot of watery/smelly discharge. No itch. No thick discharge. I blamed the smell on sweating so much and it being July.

I thought my waters were leaking due to the amount of discharge I was having so I went in. My OB did a quick swab to check if my fluid was leaking and determined in minutes I had those 2 infections. He explained it can cause small tears in the placenta and cause water leakage and weakening of the placenta. He said the tears will sometimes close and won't leak but will go back a few days later and leak again. He was very concerned my infection was as severe as it was and told me he wanted an ultrasound to check on my fluid levels. Thankfully all was fine.

I brought this up to my current OB as I was diagnosed with BV this pregnancy again. She told me it's NOT possible for the infection to carry into the cervix and uterus, unless you are dilated. It made total sense to me and why my other OB was so sketchy about it I am unsure. How could it be possible for the infection to get inside of those organs?!

Obviously every physician has separate views, just as we all probably do. If you're worried and concerned then I suggest getting swabbed to be sure. It takes 2 minutes for the results. :thumbup:
 

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