Etiologic factors in pelvic inflammatory disease in Sudanese women

Pelvic inflammatory disease constitutes a major gynecologic problem in the Sudan as in most African countries. This article reviews studies of three important causes of PID involving Sudanese women. Women who attended the gynecologic clinic of Khartoum Hospital with a complaint of vaginal discharge were tested for gonococcal infection to evaluate this potential etiology; only 1.4% of these women had gonorrhea. Since septic abortions also result in PID, we studied 2,447 women admitted to Khartoum hospitals in 1976; only 0.4% of these women had had septic abortions. Female circumcision, which is widely practiced in the Sudan, is the subject of an ongoing epidemiologic study. The clinical impression is that this harmful tradition is an important cause of PID among Sudanese women.