Risk of acquiring gonorrhea and prevalence of abnormal adnexal findings among women recently exposed to gonorrhea.

We determined the conditions of 26 women who had recently been exposed to Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Infection was more common among women with more than one exposure (13/14) than among those with one exposure (6/12). Gonococcal infection was significantly associated with the presence of findings on physical examination suggestive of upper genital tract inflammation. Nine of 19 infected women had such findings; no uninfected women did. Among infected women, the prevalence of abnormal physical findings was 47% +/- 23% (95% confidence interval). These findings suggest that upper genital tract involvement is a common early complication of gonococcal infection.