Tubal and cervical cultures in acute salpingitis with special reference to Mycoplasma hominis and T-strain mycoplasmas.

Abstract

Most workers agree that acute salpingitis is generally caused by an infection ascending from the lower genital tract. Cultures from the cervix, however, give in most cases no conclusive evidence as to the cause of the infection in the fallopian tubes (Heyne- mann, 1953; The difficulty in obtaining specimens from the uterine tubes, especially in the acute stage of the disease, has been a major obstacle in aetiological studies. When bacterial cul- tures have been made from material obtained from the fallopian tubes or aspirates from the pouch of Douglas, sampling has generally been made when the acute symptoms have subsided or in patients in whom complications have necessitated laparotomy. In such cases, bacterial cultures from the tubes have *Lower genital tract infection will henceforth be abbreviated as LGTI on July 13,