Wiktionary
n. (context pathology English) A fever, following childbirth or abortion, due to infection of the uterus.
WordNet
n. serious form of septicemia contracted by a woman during childbirth or abortion (usually attributable to unsanitary conditions); formerly widespread but now uncommon [syn: childbed fever]
Usage examples of "puerperal fever".
In 1843, Oliver Wendell Holmes presented compelling evidence that puerperal fever was contagious, but the consensus said no.
In 1849, Semmelweiss demonstrated that sanitary techniques virtually eliminated puerperal fever in hospitals under his management.
There was in fact no agreement on puerperal fever until the start of the twentieth century.
I wish that I could stay, but there is a bad case of puerperal fever in Rugeley that I must see tonight.
Obstetrics and gynecology were very new specialties and puerperal fever raged if a woman was hospitalized for her labor.
Richard's mother had been lucky in not being infected by puerperal fever, which killed so many women giving birth in those days.
When the baby was expected, she went to live with an aunt in the small village of Aughmacloy that straddles the border, and there, six months later, she died of puerperal fever shortly after giving birth to a twelve-pound boy.
At first, the Queen seemed to make a good recovery after a difficult labour, but after a day or so she developed puerperal fever and subsided into delirium, accusing her husband of delivering 'many shrewd taunts' to her.
The need for hygiene was not understood, and many women succumbed to the dreaded puerperal fever, brought on by bacterial infection.