The polymicrobial etiology of acute pelvic inflammatory disease and treatment regimens.

Continued research on acute pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) has demonstrated that PID has a rather remarkably varied etiology, the pathogens responsible including Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis, aerobic and anaerobic gram-positive and gram-negative organisms, and possibly mycoplasmas. There is clearly no single antimicrobial agent that is effective against all of the organisms implicated in the etiology of acute PID. The aminoglycosides, generally in combination with an antibiotic such as clindamycin, are commonly used in the treatment of patients with acute PID. The combination of a new monocyclic beta-lactam antibiotic, aztreonam, and clindamycin may be less toxic and equally or more effective for the treatment of acute PID.