Further observations, mainly serological, on a cohort of women with or without pelvic inflammatory disease.

An analysis was undertaken of data pertaining to over 100 women with lower abdominal pain who were laparoscoped. Prior to laparoscopy, 11 of the women were considered to almost certainly have salpingitis, of whom six (55%) had salpingitis at laparoscopy; 17 to probably have salpingitis, of whom six (35%) did; 28 to possibly have salpingitis, of whom five (18%) did; and 56 to be very unlikely to have salpingitis, of whom five (9%) did. Of the 22 women who had salpingitis at laparoscopy, 14 (64%) had a Chlamydia trachomatis IgG antibody titre of >or=1:128 and might reasonably be regarded as having chlamydial disease on this basis; six without such a titre probably did not have chlamydial disease as C. trachomatis could not be detected at any genital site. At laparoscopy, 18 women had adhesions without obvious tubal inflammation; clinically, 15 of them had been regarded as possibly having salpingitis or unlikely to have it, with 12 having chronic pelvic pain. Twelve (67%) of the 18 women had a chlamydial IgG antibody titre of >or=1:128. IgM antibody was also detected most often in the 'salpingitis' group. Of 49 women without any abnormality detected at laparoscopy, nine (18%) had a high chlamydial IgG antibody titre. Overall, a woman who had a high titre of chlamydial IgG antibody and acute pelvic pain, together with a clinical picture of pelvic inflammation, was more likely to have salpingitis than adhesions alone. Likewise, a woman who had a high titre of chlamydial IgG antibody and chronic pelvic pain, together with a clinical picture suggesting that salpingitis was unlikely, was more likely to have adhesions alone than acute chlamydial salpingitis. However, while antibody measurement and seeking cervical C. trachomatis may help in formulating a diagnosis, there seems no simple way of detecting the small proportion of women who are infected by C. trachomatis in the upper genital tract but whose laparoscopic findings indicate normality. So far as patient care is concerned, the only way of preventing damage to the upper genital tract is to treat early on the basis of suspicion.

The role of the nurse in screening asymptomatic male and female patients in a sexual health clinic.

We allocated 278 patients, who said they were asymptomatic and agreed to be randomized to a nurse or doctor clinic, to appointments using a random number system. In all, 35 patients did not attend and 16 were excluded because they did not meet the entry criteria. We used a screening protocol which excluded microscopy from the immediate assessment of patients. The outcome measures were completeness of documentation, proportion of patients accepting HIV tests, infections detected and patient satisfaction. Overall, 3% of items were not completed by doctors and 6% by nurses. HIV tests were carried out on 65% of patients who saw a doctor and 52% who saw a nurse. Thirteen infections were detected by doctors and 27 by nurses. No new cases of gonorrhoea, syphilis or HIV infection were identified. Eighty-eight patients completed a questionnaire after their attendance. Almost all patients were very satisfied with the service and most were prepared to see a nurse on a subsequent visit. We concluded that there are few differences between the performance of doctors and nurses in routine screening of asymptomatic patients.

The common occurrence of human papillomavirus infection and intraepithelial neoplasia in women infected by HIV.

Eighteen out of 19 women who were clinically well but infected by HIV showed abnormalities of the lower genital tract. Seven patients had intraepithelial neoplasia, histologically verified in five, involving the cervix in four, the vulva in three and the perineum in one. Lesions (clinical and/or subclinical) compatible with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection were identified in these women, as well as in 10 out of the other 11 women infected with HIV. Disease at more than one site was detected in half of the patients and would have remained covert in more than half, had colposcopy not been undertaken. Women with HIV infection are at high risk of harbouring HPV and of developing lower genital tract neoplasia.

A comparison of the sensitivity of immunofluorescence and Giemsa for staining Chlamydia trachomatis inclusions in cycloheximide-treated McCoy cells.

In a clinical study of 190 men with non-gonococcal urethritis, Chlamydia trachomatis inclusions were sought in cycloheximide-treated McCoy cells by an indirect immunofluorescent antibody technique. The method was consistently reliable over a period of two years, and the results were obtained within 24 hours of a patient's attendance. The results correlated with those obtained by Giemsa staining in 91.6% of patients, and the new method was at least as sensitive as the established Giemsa-staining method.

Evaluation of a direct immunofluorescence test for diagnosing gonorrhoea.

A new direct immunofluorescence reagent (Syva and Genetic Systems Inc) was evaluated for its ability to detect Neisseria gonorrhoeae in specimens from populations with a high prevalence of the infection. Gonorrhoea was diagnosed by culture in 45 of 105 (43%) urethral specimens from men and 17 of 90 (28%) urethral and 25 of 60 (42%) cervical specimens from women. In men the immunofluorescence test had a sensitivity of 84.4% and a specificity of 100%; Gram staining gave values of 94% and 100%, respectively. The sensitivity of the immunofluorescence test could be increased to 89% by testing duplicate smears. In women the immunofluorescence test had a sensitivity of 65% and a specificity of 98% for urethral samples and values of 72% and 94%, respectively for cervical samples. At both sites the sensitivity of the Gram stain was 40% and the specificity 100%. The testing of duplicate immunofluorescence smears increased the sensitivity to 76% for urethral and 88% for cervical samples.

Investigation into the value of Papanicolaou stained cervical smears for the diagnosis of chlamydial cervical infection.

Forty five (37%) of 121 female contacts of men with non-gonococcal urethritis or gonorrhoea were chlamydia positive, as judged by isolation or by detecting elementary bodies in smears with a fluorescein labelled chlamydial monoclonal antibody. Only six (13%) of these, however, had Papanicolaou stained smears in which there were inclusion like changes suggestive of chlamydial infection. Furthermore, of 15 patients who had such cytological changes, chlamydiae were detected in only six and the abnormalities were found also in Papanicolaou stained smears from 10 (13%) of the 76 chlamydia negative patients. Modifying the Papanicolaou stained smears by including endocervical material did not increase sensitivity. In addition, destaining and restaining them with the monoclonal antibody was time consuming and the results were unreliable. The staining of cervical smears with Papanicolaou reagent is a technique of low sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing or screening for chlamydial cervical infection and cannot be recommended.

Audit of HIV partner notification in a district general hospital.

We evaluated partner notification for HIV in a district general hospital over a two-year period. The majority of current partners were notified and 60% were found to be HIV-positive. No previous partners were successfully notified. We make recommendations intended to improve the rate of notification and testing.

Clinical uses of herpes simplex virus type-specific serology.

Type-specific serological tests to distinguish between infection with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) have largely been used for studies which have contributed to our knowledge of the epidemiology and natural history of these infections. Such tests could be used as diagnostic tools in clinical situations provided that clinician and patient are aware of the test characteristics, which may result in false negative and false positive results. The use of serological tests in the screening of populations or sub-populations, such as pregnant women, has been advocated to attempt to halt the worldwide spread of the infection. However, there is little evidence currently to support this strategy.

Abdominal pain in women attending a genitourinary medicine clinic: who has PID?

Eighty-one women who presented to a genitourinary medicine clinic with mild to moderate acute or chronic abdominal pain were studied in order to compare the clinical features of those who had pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and those who did not. The diagnosis was made by laparoscopy, and PID was detected in 14%, adhesions in 11% and endometriosis in 16%. Women with PID were clinically indistinguishable from women with other diagnoses or no obvious cause.

Encouraging HIV testing in GUM clinics--can we dispense with the pre-test discussion? Genitourinary Medicine.

In a genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinic on the periphery of the London conurbation, HIV testing was promoted during a one-month period by offering testing without preliminary pre-test discussion to patients who assessed themselves to be low risk. The testing rate rose from 5.9% to 10.8% in women and 12.6% to 20% in men. One new HIV-positive patient was identified.

Asymptomatic shedding of herpes simplex virus from the genital tract: uncertainty and its consequences for patient management. The Herpes Simplex Virus Advisory Panel.

A frequent component of the management of patients with genital herpes concerns the possibility of asymptomatic shedding and potential sexual transmission of the virus. Approaches intended to provide supportive counselling and reassurance of patients about these issues need now to be modified in the light of increasing data of the frequency of asymptomatic detection of virus and the effects of antiviral therapy on this phenomenon. Further studies to delineate the relationship between asymptomatic detection of HSV in the genital tract and the mechanism of sexual transmission of this virus need to be conducted before clinicians instigate antiviral suppressive treatment primarily to prevent sexual transmission of HSV. However, it is important that the new data and our greater understanding of the natural history of genital herpes is translated into accurate and comprehensible information for our patients.

A 2-year quantitative assessment of Chlamydia trachomatis in a sexually transmitted diseases clinic population by the MicroTrak direct smear immunofluorescence test.

The MicroTrak direct smear immunofluorescence test was used to determine the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis elementary bodies (EBs) in groups of patients in various clinical categories, most of whom were seen in a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases (STD). Overall, 8138 adequate specimens were tested, of which 14.3% were found to contain chlamydial EBs. Of the samples from patients seen in the STD clinic, over 70% were from women and 14.9% of these were positive, as were 15.7% of those from men. EBs were detected in 27% of samples from infants and in 7.0% of those from adults with conjunctivitis. EBs were detected most often in men with nongonococcal urethritis (40.2%), infants with conjunctivitis (30%) and contacts of chlamydiae-positive patients (24.5%) and least often in 'prostatitis' (2.9%) and patients tested to determine the success of treatment (2.7%). Over 40% of samples from both the male urethra and the cervix contained 10 or fewer EBs, highlighting the importance of recognizing small numbers and the sensitivity required of other detection procedures.

Clinical aspects of pelvic inflammatory disease.

Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is a common and poorly managed condition. Untreated or inadequately treated, it leads to tubal infertility, ectopic pregnancy and chronic pelvic pain. Diagnostic difficulties are compounded by the wide variety of clinical presentations and the insensitivity and poor specificity of laboratory tests. Better recognition of mild and atypical disease needs a high index of suspicion whenever young, sexually active women present with gynaecological symptoms. Laparoscopy supplemented by microbiological tests and fimbrial minibiopsy should be regarded as the diagnostic 'gold standard' for research studies; new studies are required to identify techniques which might reduce under- and over-diagnosis. Early treatment reduces the risk of an adverse effect on fertility. Any therapeutic regimen selected should be effective against the common aetiological agents Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, genital mycoplasmas and aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. Since at least 60% of cases of PID can be attributed to infection with a sexually transmitted organism, partner notification forms an essential part of management.