diff --git a/sphinx/writers/latex.py b/sphinx/writers/latex.py
index 12f8df60e..20ee0c26e 100644
--- a/sphinx/writers/latex.py
+++ b/sphinx/writers/latex.py
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ def width_to_latex_length(length_str):
 
 def escape_abbr(text):
     """Adjust spacing after abbreviations."""
-    return text.replace('.', '.\\@')
+    return re.sub('\.(?=\s|$)', '.\\@', text)
 
 
 class LaTeXTranslator(nodes.NodeVisitor):