Pelvic Inflammatory Disease or PID is an infection from the vaginia or cervix
to the uterus, fallopian tubes and broad ligaments.

symtoms: vaginal discharge, anorectal pain, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting,
fever.

Almost any bacteria may cause PID, most common is chlamydia. Other causes:
sexual intercourse with a man with urethritis, insertion of an IUD, abortion,
or childbirth.

Early therapy with appropriate antibiotics is important: PID’s can cause
infertility.

Sexually transmitted disease (STD) constitutes a staggering public health
problem in the U.S. According to the government’s Centers for Disease
Control, 15 million new cases are diagnosed annually. Young people aged 15
to 29 have the highest rates of infection. By the age of 21, almost one
American in five requires treatment for a disease acquired through sexual
contact. Among teenagers who are sexually active, the infection rate is a
whopping one in four.

Sexually transmitted diseases are more than just a nuisance. Some of these
diseases may be fatal, particularly to women and their unborn babies. Other
STDs cause pelvic inflammatory disease, tubal pregnancy, sterility, certain
types of cancer, or blindness. Babies whose mothers are infected with STDs
may suffer from birth defects or mental retardation.

Although the rates of disease and disability from sexually acquired
illnesses are highest among the poor, the impact of STDs on health care
spending touches all income levels. As far back as the mid-nineties, the
direct and indirect costs of the major STDs and their complications were
estimated to total almost $17 billion annually.

During the 1970s, the government monitored just five sexually transmitted
diseases — syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydial infection/nongonococcal
urethritis, pelvic inflammatory disease, and genital herpes/warts.

In the 1980s, however, the mounting AIDS epidemic triggered an explosion of
research into and monitoring of diseases that were transmitted sexually. The
painstaking study of AIDS taught scientists a great deal about other STDs;
and today the federal government recognizes some 50 types of sexually
transmitted infection.

Thanks to public awareness campaigns, many people now know how to protect
themselves from the AIDS virus by avoiding injection drug use and by
faithfully using “safer sex” techniques. Fortunately, this same approach
also protects them from the many other disease agents transmitted through
sexual contact or some other transfer of bodily fluids.