Prevention of Very Preterm Delivery by Testing for and Treatment of Bacterial Vaginosis

Background. Anomalies of the vaginal flora (bacterial vaginosis, BV) are associated with an increased risk of late abortions and preterm birth. Studies of antibiotic treatment of BV to reduce the risk of prematurity have not found a statistically significant diminution of risk (\<= 32 wks: OR=0.49 \[0.05-5.1\], \< 37 wks: OR=0.83 \[0.59-1.17\]).A partial explanation of these findings is that some of these treatment were administered vaginally, most often during the second or third trimester Aim: To reduce the frequency of late abortions and very preterm birth by prescribing clindamycin vs placebo to patients diagnosed with BV before 13 weeks.