[Microbiologic basis of diagnosis and treatment of pelvic inflammatory disease].

Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is caused by a large spectrum of micro-organisms. However, the microbiological cause is unknown in approximately half of cases according to varying series. In the context of sexually transmitted disease (STD), the most frequently identified microorganisms causing PID are Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis and Mycoplasma genitalium. In such cases, bacterial vaginosis and Trichomonas vaginalis are frequently associated. In case of complicated PID or when PID is the consequence of delivery, abortion, intra-uterine procedure, bacteria that come from vaginal carriage may be encountered: Enterobacteriacae, Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp., anaerobes. Mycopslama hominis as well as Ureaplasma urealyticum may also be found in this context. The microbiological diagnosis may be performed on samples of vaginal liquid, endocervix or, when available, surgical specimens. The microbiological diagnostic procedures that are used to identify these microrgansims are reviewed. Vaginal sampling may help to identify N. gonorrhoeae, C. trachomatis and M. genitalium using nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT), and is also of interest because of the epidemiological association of PID to bacterial vaginosis and trichomoniasis. Samples from the endocervix, and if available, from endometrial biopsy surgical procedures, should be processed to detect N. gonorrhoeae, C. trachomatis and M. genitalium using NAAT, and to search for the presence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (antibiogram should be performed), facultative anaerobes, anaerobes and capnophilic bacteria. The antibiotic treatment should at least cover N. gonorrhoeae, C. trachomatis and M. genitalium, and for most of the authors, anaerobes. In case, microbiological studies demonstrate the role of other bacteria (e.g., Enterobacteriacae), theses should be treated according to the results of antibiogram.