Intra-amniotic infection involving Candida albicans subsequent to emergency cerclage: A case series

Abstract

Vaginal colonization and symptomatic vaginitis involving Candida albicans is common during pregnancy (1,2); however, infection of the amniotic fluid in the presence of intact membranes is encountered rarely in obstetrical practice and mostly recognized retrospectively (3). C albicans is able to cross intact fetal membranes (4) and several case reports describe the isolation of the organism from amniotic fluid in amniocentesis specimens obtained before placement of emergency cervical cerclage (2,5). We present three cases in which C albicans was not isolated on culture from the precerclage amniotic fluid, but was isolated from the postcerclage amniotic fluid. The present cases were identified during a retrospective review of all cases of emergency cerclage at our institution and approval was granted through the Research Ethics Board at the University of Manitoba (Winnipeg, Manitoba).