Abstract
Complications during pregnancy due to an infection are common, yet, physicians are often afraid to use antibiotic therapy because of a potential harm to the foetus. With the increasing antibiotic resistance of bacteria, there are many problems, especially in terms of the initial antibiotic therapy.
The discovery that certain microorganisms have an antibacterial potential, marked a new era in medicine. The human being started to believe that infectious diseases are the past that will never come back.
Yet, the opposite is true. Indeed, resistant bacterial strains are becoming more prevalent in pregnant women and can cause an infection in a newborn.
On the other hand, there are changes in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics during pregnancy that must be considered when administrating antibiotics. The goal of this book is not to detail every clinical situation and its appropriate antibiotic treatment but to outline the principles of antibiotic therapy during the most common infections.
There is no such thing as a universal antibiotic and therefore, one chapter of this book is designated to biomarkers. Biomarkers are not only used for verification of an ongoing infection, but they may or rather should be used as a guidance for the appropriate antibiotic therapy and its prompt ending when required.
Furthermore, prevention is always better than resolution of complications hence, a part of this book is about screening and vaccination during pregnancy.