Epidemiologic characteristics of women infected with Corynebacterium vaginale (Haemophilus vainalis)

In a group of 184 women infected with Corynebacterium vaginale (Haemophilus vaginalis), 34% over age 30 were divorced or separated and 8% gave a history of induced abortion. Fifty-one percent were taking an oral contraceptive drug, as compared to 36% of 140 women in a control group. Various sexually transmitted diseases were diagnosed either concomitantly or at another time in 52% of women in the study group and 38% of those in the control group. The rate of cervical neoplasia (invasive carcinoma, carcinoma in situ, and dysplasia) was 13.6% in the study group and 5.7% in the control group, the rate in the study group being several times that in the general population. These and other available epidemiologic data support the conclusion that C vainale is transmitted sexually.