Genital Mycoplasmas in Postpartum Fever

We obtained vaginal cultures for the genital mycoplasmas (Mycoplasma hominis and T-mycoplasmas) from 388 consecutive women who delivered at the Boston City Hospital. We were unable to relate vaginal colonization with genital mycoplasmas to postpartum' fever. Patients who became febrile after delivery were examined, and cultures of the blood and urine were obtained. M. hominis was isolated from the blood of two of 27 women with otherwise unexplained postpartum fever as well as from the blood of one of 31 afebrile women who served as controls. Neither of the febrile women who had M. hominis in her blood was seriously ill, and both recovered without specific antimicrobial therapy. All three women who had M. hominis in their blood developed mycoplasmacidal antibodies to M. hominis.