Efficacy of antibiotic therapy in preventing spontaneous pregnancy loss among couples colonized with genital mycoplasmas.

Evidence suggests that genital mycoplasmas play a role in spontaneous abortion, prematurity, and perinatal morbidity and mortality rate. Since these organisms are sensitive to antibiotics, three treatment regimens were assessed for efficacy in preventing spontaneous pregnancy loss. The pregnancy loss rate was significantly reduced from 96% to 47.4% among those treated with doxycycline prior to conception and to less than 20% among those treated with erythromycin stearate only during pregnancy or with both regimens. The reduction in pregnancy loss rate was independent of maternal age, the number of previous abortions, gestational age at abortion, or other minor abnormalities. Diagnosis and treatment of mycoplasma infection following a first or later pregnancy loss equally prevented spontaneous loss in the next pregnancy. These observations suggest that appropriate treatment of mycoplasma infection could also prevent recurrent spontaneous abortion syndrome in couples with positive cultures.