By: Diana Barnes-Brown for Fibroids1Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is a disease of the female reproductive tract that affects an estimated 1 million women annually in the United States, with 250,000 women requiring hospitalization, amounting to a shocking 4.2 billion dollars spent annually on PID treatment.
Women with PID have ectopic pregnancy rates at least 12 percent higher than the general population. Up to 50 percent of women with PID also suffer from infertility, and roughly 20 percent suffer from chronic pelvic pain as a direct result of the disease. PID occurs most often in sexually active women under 25 years of age, but may affect women at any age. Apart from AIDS, PID is currently the most serious sexually transmitted disease among women.
With numbers like these, it’s no surprise that PID has become the leading cause of female infertility in the industrialized world. Doctors and healthcare providers are struggling to educate patients about prevention, detection and treatment in hopes that these dismal numbers can be reduced.
The name “pelvic inflammatory disease” points to one of its main symptoms: Inflammation in the pelvic region. The disease itself is most frequently caused by organisms such as Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae, but other bacteria and organisms, and sometimes more than one type at a time, may be to blame. Bacteria including Peptococcus, Peptostreptococcus, and Bacteroides are also found at the root of some cases of PID, as have genital Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma organisms and the gut coliforms (organisms dwelling in the intestinal and/or digestive tract, including E. coli), have also been isolated in the reproductive tracts of women with PID.
PID is caused when infectious organisms enter the vagina and the cervix, perhaps from unprotected sex with a partner who carries the organisms, or possibly from a medical procedure in which proper sterility procedures were not followed. Once inside the reproductive tract, the organisms multiply and infect surrounding structures.
PID may lead to or be related to endometritis (inflammation and infection of the lining of the uterus), salpingitis (inflammation and infection of the fallopian tubes, the tubes leading to the ovaries), tuboovarian abscesses (abscesses in the ovaries or fallopian tubes), and peritonitis (inflammation and infection of the membrane that lines and covers reproductive organs).
The most common symptom of PID is lower abdominal pain, but some may also experience abnormal vaginal discharge, lower back pain, irregular vaginal bleeding, and in more severe cases the organisms responsible lead to high fever, nausea, vomiting and severe pain. Women with PID may have tender lower abdomens upon examination, and sensitivity or pain when the uterus or cervix is manipulated during a pelvic exam.
While abdominal pain and other symptoms of PID may be easily written off as “normal period symptoms” or the result of some other naturally occurring reproductive process, women who experience these symptoms should see their doctors without delay.
Because the symptoms are shared by numerous diseases of the reproductive tract, PID may be difficult to diagnose, but by using a combination of tests and examination procedures, shrewd doctors can isolate and begin to treat the disease.
Patients who experience symptoms of PID should urge their doctors to rule out this common disease if other diagnoses are not found. The earlier a diagnosis can be made, the better, because the symptoms can lead to permanent damage to reproductive structures if not caught early on. On the other hand, early treatment can lead to an optimistic prognosis for future reproductive health, and eliminate a great deal of pain and suffering down the line.
