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Salmonella sp is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Although commonly infecting the gastrointestinal system, other presentations are not unheard of. Salmonella is an unlikely and an unusual cause of genital tract infection. We describe a woman with suspected pelvic inflammatory disease eventually confirmed as Salmonella O C2 infection.

The occurrence of pelvic inflammatory disease and tubo-ovarian abscesses previously has been regarded as essentially nonexistent in the patient who has undergone tubal sterilization, although there have been isolated reports in the literature. This case describes a patient who underwent tubal ligation approximately 6 years prior to presenting with bilateral ruptured tubo-ovarian abscesses. The patient underwent emergency surgery and had an uneventful recovery. Theoretically, although bilateral tubal ligation should preclude the development of pelvic inflammatory disease, it is a diagnosis that should be considered in the patient presenting with lower pelvic and abdominal pain.

Most studies have been concerned with recovering Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) from the endocervix on the one hand and from the adnexae on the other hand and consider its relationship to infection of the upper genital tract. Our work is concerned with the endometrium. 42 women were examined: 22 of them had salpingitis (group I), 14 were considered possibly to have endometritis with a risk of infection with CT, or had cervicitis (group II), and 6 were in the control group (group III). Samples were taken from the endometrium that had been removed for histological examination and for searching for CT in cultures. These samples were taken routinely at the initial examination and then again 10 and/or 40 days later for women in groups I and II. These latter were all treated systemically with cyclines. A high incidence of endometrial infection with CT was found (17%). The recovery of CT from the endometrium was correlated with the presence of an intra-uterine device, with purulent discharge, with evidence of CT in the cervix, and with anti-chlamydia serology higher than or equal to 1/128. CT infection of the endometrium gave late lesions of endometritis which persisted in spite of the antibiotic therapy that had been given.