Reproductive Tract Infections, Gynaecological Morbidity and HIV Seroprevalence Among Women in Mumbai, India

Reported are the prevalence of reproductive tract infections and their contribution to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), as well as the seroprevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), among women living in three inner city wards of Mumbai, India. Women aged < or = 35 years were recruited and screened as cases if they had been admitted to hospital for gynaecological investigation for suspected PID (n = 151) or infertility (n = 295); controls were healthy fertile women attending for laparoscopic tubal ligation (n = 2433). The women were mainly of low socioeconomic status. A total of 59.4% were migrants and 14.9% of these came to Mumbai to seek treatment. Cases reported a history of adverse pregnancy outcomes significantly more often than controls, and 30.5% of suspected PID cases had previously undergone laparoscopic tubal ligation. At examination 24.2% of cases and 8.4% of controls had a vaginal discharge. Pelvic infection was confirmed in 42.0% of suspected PID cases and 14.6% of infertile cases for whom diagnostic laparoscopy was performed. The prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases was low: Chlamydia trachomatis was found in 0.2%; and Neisseria gonorrhoeae was cultured from the cervix in only four cases. Neither of these infections was detected in laparoscopic aspirates. The prevalence of HIV1/2 infections in unlinked samples was 1.9%. Sexually transmitted diseases were not major factors leading to gynaecological morbidity. Heterosexual spread of HIV infection to this population of married women is still relatively low but needs to be carefully monitored. The gynaecological morbidity detected may be a consequence of widespread use of invasive methods of fertility regulation.