Women's Deaths Mystery Widens
Andrew Bridges
AP
Forbes
_____
A rare germ that killed four California women who took the abortion pill RU-486 has been implicated in the deaths of even more women following childbirth or miscarriage, broadening the debate beyond abortion on the eve of a meeting to examine the bacterial mystery.
While the abortion link has grabbed the most attention, Clostridium sordellii has killed at least 11 other women, women's health experts said in interviews. That's more than twice as many as have died of infection after taking the abortion pill, also called Mifeprex or mifepristone.
The numbers suggest the bacterium's threat, while still limited, could be broader than previously thought.
"That's a critical question: Is this association between use of Mifeprex and infection with C. sordellii ... or is it something more general?" asked Susan Wood, the former top women's health official at the Food and Drug Administration. She thinks it's the latter.
Scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health and FDA are meeting Thursday in Atlanta to decide what research is needed to better understand the emerging threat posed by C. sordellii and a second bacterium, Clostridium difficile. The second germ is not linked to the abortion pill but is growing in prevalence in hospitals and nursing homes, and is increasingly resistant to antibiotics.
C. sordellii has been linked to four abortion pill deaths; a fifth is being investigated.
Opponents of the abortion pill have seized on those deaths - along with hundreds more complications after pill-induced abortions - to call for pulling Mifeprex from the market.
May 10, 2006
Andrew Bridges
AP
Forbes
_____
A rare germ that killed four California women who took the abortion pill RU-486 has been implicated in the deaths of even more women following childbirth or miscarriage, broadening the debate beyond abortion on the eve of a meeting to examine the bacterial mystery.
While the abortion link has grabbed the most attention, Clostridium sordellii has killed at least 11 other women, women's health experts said in interviews. That's more than twice as many as have died of infection after taking the abortion pill, also called Mifeprex or mifepristone.
The numbers suggest the bacterium's threat, while still limited, could be broader than previously thought.
"That's a critical question: Is this association between use of Mifeprex and infection with C. sordellii ... or is it something more general?" asked Susan Wood, the former top women's health official at the Food and Drug Administration. She thinks it's the latter.
Scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health and FDA are meeting Thursday in Atlanta to decide what research is needed to better understand the emerging threat posed by C. sordellii and a second bacterium, Clostridium difficile. The second germ is not linked to the abortion pill but is growing in prevalence in hospitals and nursing homes, and is increasingly resistant to antibiotics.
C. sordellii has been linked to four abortion pill deaths; a fifth is being investigated.
Opponents of the abortion pill have seized on those deaths - along with hundreds more complications after pill-induced abortions - to call for pulling Mifeprex from the market.
May 10, 2006
