ABSTRACT
Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) has a few unique signs and symptoms. Subacute lower abdominal pain and deep dyspareunia are suggestive, with or without vaginal discharge and unscheduled bleeding. Risk factors for PID include younger age (less than 25 years), a new sexual partner, more than three lifetime sexual partners and a history of sexually transmitted infection. Use of hormonal contraception reduces risk and PID is very rare in second- and third-trimester pregnancy. People may have sexual health needs at various life stages and a failure to discuss sex alongside other aspects of health is a missed opportunity. It is helpful to normalise sex and enquiries relating to it. Increasingly, STI screens are performed outside sexual health clinics, which is progress. The more tests that are done, the more cases of STI – such as Chlamydia trachomatis – are found and treated, breaking chains of infection. However, the presence of one STI increases the likelihood of others.
