Acute Pelvic Inflammatory Disease in Cameroon: A Cross Sectional Descriptive Study

This cross-sectional descriptive study, aimed at identifying the sociodemographic characteristics of women diagnosed with acute pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), as well as the microorganisms isolated, was carried out between October 1st, 2013 and March 31st, 2014 in two major hospitals in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Seventy women diagnosed with acute PID were recruited. The main variables recorded were maternal age, occupation, marital status, number of current sexual partners, the clinical presentation at admission and the microorganisms identified. Data were analyzed using SPSS 20.0. Mean maternal age was 29.0 ± 7.7 years. Students were more represented (37.1%), 58.6 % were single, 64.3% had ≥ 2 sexual partners. The most frequent signs and symptoms were abnormal vaginal discharge (100%), adnexal tenderness (97.1%), cervical motion tenderness (94.3%) and fever ≥ 38.3 degrees C (82.9%). No microorganism was isolated in 20% of cases, especially among women who underwent intra-uterine procedures. The most frequent microorganisms were genital tract mycoplasmas (54.3%). Acute PID is common among young, single women with multiple sexual partners. The micro-organisms frequently responsible for acute PID were genital tract mycoplasmas, whose identification should be included among routine tests for women with suspected acute PID in the hospitals.