How do you know if you have a post-abortion infection?
Infections following medical abortions are very rare. If you feel weakness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever that lasts more than 24 hours or is higher than 100.4 F/ 38 C, pain in your belly, if your belly feels sore or tender, if the bleeding increases or takes longer than expected or if you have vaginal discharge that smells bad, you might have an infection and you should seek medical care or assistance immediately. The infection should be treated with antibiotics.
A fever that starts soon after Misoprostol administration and lasts less than 24 hours and is less than 100.4 F/ 38 C is a common side effect. If the fever lasts longer than 24 hours or is more than 100.4 F/38 C, you should seek medical attention.
The risk of infection is greater when a woman gives birth than when she has a medical abortion.
More information:
The majority of medical abortion studies have reported no infections, although a few have mentioned isolated cases. Research has concluded that infection after medical abortion procedures is an infrequent event, occurring in <1% of over 46,400 cases. This is lower than the frequency of infection after surgical abortion or childbirth. Ten cases of infection were reported out of 80,000 women who had medical abortions using Mifepristone in the United States.
The most common type of infection reported after abortion is endometritis, which is an infection of the lining of the uterus, and genital tract. It may involve infection of reproductive organs and the urinary system. Clostridium sordellii sepsis is another type of post-abortion infection that is extremely rare. Clostridium sordellii can also cause fatal infections in women who have just given birth. It is not an infection that only affects women having medical abortions. Clostridium sordellii specifically calls attention to the unusual and distinctive signs and symptoms associated with these infections — an absence of fever but the presence of refractory hypotension, hemoconcentration, effusions in multiple serous cavities, and dramatic leukocytosis.