Prophylaxis and treatment of anaerobic infections following caesarean section with tinidazole

Abstract

The purpose of this prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was to clarify the effect of a single intravenous infusion of 500 mg of tinidazole on infections that followed a caesarean section. 80 consecutive caesarean-section patients and thereafter 72 women undergoing non-elective caesarean section were randomly assigned to two groups, each receiving intravenous infusions at cord clamping. In the entire sample the incidence of endometritis/wound infection in the placebo group was 27.3% (21/77) versus 10.7% (8/75) in the tinidazole group (p less than 0.01). In the non-elective caesarean-section group the incidence of endometritis/wound infection was 39.6% (21/53) in the placebo group versus 14.3% (7/49) in the tinidazole group (p less than 0.01). 27 positive bacterial cultures yielded a pure anaerobic growth in 59% (16/27) of cases, of which 87.5% (14/16) were treated successfully with oral tinidazole.