Medico-social aspects of a house of prostitution.

All the women working in a Sydney house of prostitution were surveyed for one year for the presence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and other medical problems, and for the contraceptive methods they used. Considerable potential morbidity from STD was noted, particularly pelvic inflammatory disease (23 episodes). Contraception was an area of unsatisfactory practice. Suggestions are made for the clinical management of these women, with the intention of diminishing the impact of STDs on them and, as a direct result, rendering them less infectious, to the benefit of the community. It is hoped that greater knowledge will improve the standard of current debate about prostitution.