An Outbreak of Streptococcal Puerperal Sepsis

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Abstract
HISTORICALLY, streptococcal puerperal sepsis has been one of the most frequent and devastating forms of hospital-acquired infections. Treatises on this subject appeared in the English literature as early as 1795,1 and some authorities, notably Holmes,2 were early believers in the contagiousness of the disease. Person-to-person transmission, however, was not clearly established until the classic studies of Semmelweis.3 Prevention and some degree of control of epidemics of puerperal sepsis was achieved by the introduction of antiseptic, aseptic and isolation technics,4 but the number of deaths from this cause still varied from 1.5 to 2.1 per 1000 births in England between 1925 . . .