Detection of Serum Antibody Response to Bacteroides bivius by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay in Women With Intraamniotic Infection

Amniotic fluid from patients with intraamniotic infection usually reveals multiple organisms, including aerobes, anaerobes, and mycoplasmas. Bacteroides bivius, one of the most common isolates in these fluids, is found in approximately 20% of cases. To provide further information of the role of B bivius in intraamniotic infection, we measured serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) against B bivius by a micro-enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Antigen was prepared from whole cells of a clinical isolate. Amniotic fluid was collected by aspiration of a transcervical pressure catheter, and was cultured for aerobes, anaerobes, and mycoplasmas. Acute and convalescent sera from 47 infected women and 31 controls were assayed to detect serologic response. Patients with intraamniotic infection and B bivius in amniotic fluid culture had significantly greater serologic responses than did infected women without B bivius in amniotic fluid and asymptomatic controls. These data suggest a pathogenic role of B bivius in intraamniotic infection, and imply that it probably plays a frequent role in other obstetric infections. (Obstet Gynecol 69:208, 1987)