June 2022: STD Logic

Show Notes: PID is often missed because the exam can be unimpressive. Remember more than 50 percent of men and more than 80 percent of women have no symptoms with chlamydia, so if you use your logical brain, it follows many cases are mild. In terms of risk, remember that PID is not always an STI; it is caused by vaginal flora in about 15 percent of cases. Fitz-Hugh-Curtis (FHC) is also often missed, and you are probably missing it if you are not diagnosing about one case a year. The classic case is pleuritic RUQ pain in a sexually active woman, normal LFTs, elevated D-dimer, and normal CT angiograph of the chest. If it is from chlamydia, patients almost never have pelvic symptoms. Incubation is usually about three weeks. Do a sexual history. If there is a new partner, consider FHC even if the pain is nonpleuritic. Gallstones can be a red herring.