Listeriosis and recurrent abortion in a renal transplant recipient

A 29-year-old farmer's wife had received a kidney from her brother (of identical HLA type) at the age of 22 years. She was afterwards immunosuppressed with prednisolone and azathioprine. Her first pregnancy had been uneventful but the second and third had terminated spontaneously at 15 and 24 weeks gestation respectively. Following the third pregnancy, Listeria monocytogenes (serotype 4) was grown from the fetus, the placenta and maternal blood. Over the next 18 months, antibody titres which were assessed by an IgG indirect immunofluorescent antibody assay remained high. When the patient became pregnant for a fourth time, 9 months after her second abortion, 250 mg ampicillin were administered three times daily for the remaining duration of the pregnancy. A second child was successfully delivered by Caesarean section at 39 weeks' gestation.