About 4.4 percent of American women have been diagnosed with pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), an infection of the reproductive tract that can cause infertility when left untreated.
A new U.S. government report on the latest pelvic inflammatory disease statistics states that approximately 2.5 million U.S. women have had PID. Researchers drew this information from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2013-2014) and found no significant difference in PID diagnosis prevalence by race, ethnicity, age, or socioeconomic factors. They did, however, find that women who reported having ten or more male sexual partners experienced PID three times more frequently than women with one male sexual partner.
What Causes PID?
Pelvic inflammatory disease is usually caused by a sexually transmitted disease (STD). Chlamydia and gonorrhea, the two most common STDs, are often the culprits. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there are about 1.5 million cases of chlamydia and 400,000 cases of gonorrhea reported every year.
Women are more likely to get pelvic inflammatory disease if they have had an STD that went untreated, have multiple sexual partners, have partners who have sex with other people, or have had PID before.
What Happens During a PID Infection?
Pelvic inflammatory disease is often symptomless, which makes it difficult to diagnose. However, some women may experience a burning feeling during urination or abnormal cervical mucus. When a PID infection goes untreated for a long time, more severe side effects can include abdominal pain, fever, or pain during sex.
PID attacks the reproductive system, so when it goes untreated, it can cause chronic pelvic pain, fallopian tubal blockage, pregnancies that occur outside the womb (ectopic pregnancies), and infertility. One out of eight women who have had PID report difficulty getting pregnant.
How Is PID Treated?
Because PID is so difficult to detect, a woman should see her gynecologist at the first sign of even mild symptoms or if she thinks that she or her sexual partner has been exposed to an STD. Women who are sexually active and under the age of 25 should also be screened for chlamydia annually.
When a pelvic inflammatory disease diagnosis is made, the condition is usually treated with a course of antibiotics (often including doxycycline and metronidazole). Women who are prescribed antibiotics for PID need to keep taking these medications for the entire prescribed course of treatment, even if they feel better before then. Women who have been had a PID diagnosis should also tell any sexual partners so that they can get screened for STDs. If their partners have undiagnosed STDs, women risk contracting PID again.
Preventing PID
Being in a monogamous relationship with a partner who has been screened for STDs can dramatically reduce a woman’s risk of getting a PID infection. However, women who have multiple partners can still reduce their risk by using condoms every time they have sex. Women may also be able to reduce their risk by taking progesterone-containing birth control pills. These hormone-based pills cause cervical mucus to thicken, which makes it harder for bacteria to move into the reproductive tract.
However, women should remember that birth control pills alone will not prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
