About PID

PELVIC inflammatory disease (PID) is an infection of a woman’s reproductive organs resulting from complications due to untreated sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

PID is considered a serious condition in women as it can result in infertility. It is also believed that one in eight women with a history of the disease experience difficulties getting pregnant.

Gynaecologist and obstetrician Professor Horace Fletcher said the two most common bacteria that cause PID are chlamydia trachomatis and neisseria gonorrhoeae, bacteria that cause the STDs chlamydia and gonorrhoea.

“When a woman gets any or both of these two powerful infections it often leads to inflammation of the uterus lining and surrounding areas,” Prof Fletcher said. “This usually happens if she is slow on receiving medical help and if she has sexual intercourse with someone who is infected with chlamydia and/or gonorrhoea.”

Women are also more likely to get PID if they have more than one sex partners; have a sex partner who has other partners; have had PID before; are sexually active; and are age 25 or younger.

According to the US Centres for Disease Control, you can reduce your chances of PID by avoiding contracting STDs, and by not having vaginal, anal, or oral sex. But for those who are sexually active, you can lower the chances of getting the disease by being in a long-term, mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and has negative STD test results, or by using latex condoms every time you have sex.

Prof Fletcher said that the bacteria can infect a woman’s Fallopian tubes and cause inflammation. When this happens, tissues become scarred and block the normal passage of an egg, which then results in infertility. If the Fallopian tubes are partially blocked, an egg may implant itself outside the uterus and will cause an ectopic pregnancy which can cause internal bleeding or even death.

PID can also cause complications with childbirth, such as having a pre-term baby or passing on of the infection to the baby. Scar tissue may also develop elsewhere in the abdomen and cause pelvic pain that can last for months or years. Having a sexually transmitted disease that can lead to PID infection also puts a woman at greater risk of contracting HIV.

— Donna Hussey-Whyte