Acute pelvic inflammatory disease and clinical response to parenteral doxycycline

The bacteriology of acute pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and clinical response to parenteral doxycycline were evaluated in 30 patients. Only 3 of 21 cul-de-sac cultures from PID patients were sterile, whereas all 8 normal control subjects yielded negative results (P< 0.005). Poor correlation was observed between cervical and cul-de-sac cultures. Neisseria gonorrhoeae, isolated from the cervix in 17 patients (57%), was recovered from the cul-de-sac only once. Streptococcus, Peptococcus, Peptostreptococcus, coliforms, and other organisms normally present in the vagina were the predominant isolates recovered from the cul-de-sac. Parenteral doxycycline resulted in rapid resolution of signs and symptoms (within 48 h) in 20 of 27 evaluable patients (74%). In five others, signs and symptoms of infection abated within 4 days. The remaining two patients failed to respond; in both cases, adnexal masses developed during doxycycline therapy. Gonococci were eradicated from the cervix in all but one patient who, nevertheless, had a rapid defervescence of symptoms. There was no clear-cut correlation between the clinical response and in vitro susceptibility of cul-de-sac isolates to doxycycline. These data confirm the usefulness of broad-spectrum antibiotics in acute PID. Culdocentesis is a reliable means of obtaining material for the bacteriological diagnosis of acute PID; however, the pathogenetic role and relative importance of gonococci and various other bacteria in acute PID need to be clarified further.