puerperal fever
nounDefinition of puerperal fever
: an abnormal condition that results from infection of the placental site following delivery or abortion and is characterized in mild form by fever but in serious cases the infection may spread through the uterine wall or pass into the bloodstream
— called also
childbed fever, puerperal sepsis
Examples of puerperal fever in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Within 11 days of Mary’s birth in London in 1797, however, Wollstonecraft lay dead of puerperal fever, leaving Godwin on his own to raise the new baby and her half-sister, Fanny (Wollstonecraft’s daughter by a previous lover). — Elizabeth Lowry, WSJ, "The Mother of Frankenstein," 1 June 2018 No one could figure out why so many women and children were dying from puerperal fever—commonly known as childbed fever. — Michael Harriot, The Root, "The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: Lotion Is the Cure for Racism," 18 May 2018 Later in his career, Knowlton helped figure out what caused puerperal fever, write Baumrin, Cobett and Kulkarni, advancing women's health. — Kat Eschner, Smithsonian, "This Infamous 19th-Century Birth Control Pamphlet Got Its Writer Imprisoned," 10 May 2017These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'puerperal fever.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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