Experience and knowledge level of female health care professionals in Samsun province regarding puerperal mastitis

INTRODUCTION Mastitis is an inflammatory condition of the breast, which may or may not be accompanied by infection and is usually associated with lactation (1). As it commonly occurs in lactating women, it is called lactational or puerperal mastitis, with a reported incidence varying from 2.9% to 33% of lactating women, mainly because of the absence of a reliable diagnostic test (2-5). It has been shown that only acute cases with local and systemic symptoms are being reported while subacute cases are systematically underreported (6).