SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Rise in Risky Pregnancy Linked to Sexual Disease

A rise in the number of dangerous pregnancies in which the fetus develops outside the womb appears to be linked to chlamydia, a common and often symptom-free sexual infection. Ectopic pregnancies increased fourfold from 1970 to 1985, affecting 78,400 women that year, researchers from UC San Francisco reported last week in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.

A woman’s risk of developing an ectopic pregnancy, which causes 11% of maternal deaths, more than doubles if she has had the bacterial infection chlamydia trachomatis, the researchers said. They based their conclusion on tests of 306 women with ectopic pregnancies and 266 women with normal pregnancies.

The researchers also found that women who douched also had a risk of developing ectopic pregnancies. They speculated that douching may propel bacteria into the upper genital tract, resulting in infection that can scar the Fallopian tubes and blocking the normal path that eggs travel from the ovaries to the womb.