The occurrence of chlamydial and gonococcal salpingitis during the menstrual cycle.

We evaluated 104 women hospitalized with a diagnosis of acute salpingitis to compare the relationship between the menstrual cycle and onset of acute chlamydial and/or gonococcal salpingitis and acute salpingitis associated with other facultative aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. Neisseria gonorrhoeae was recovered from 42 women (40%), Chlamydia trachomatis from 28 (27%), and nongonococcal, nonchlamydial organisms only from the upper genital tract in 48 (46%). Among 37 cases with symptoms of acute salpingitis within seven days of onset of menses, 30 (81%) had chlamydial and/or gonococcal infection.