title: Strategies for diagnosing vaginitis.
abstract: Detailed history, physical examination, laboratory, and follow-up data were obtained from 821 patients presenting to a primary care clinic over an 18-month period with the symptoms of vaginal infection or urinary tract infection (UTI). Information useful in deciding when to perform a vaginal examination, when to obtain various types of cultures, and when to perform microscopic examination of a saline suspension or Gram stain is presented. Of particular interest were the findings that patients with dysuria more commonly have vaginitis than UTI, the superiority of a saline examination to other means of diagnosing yeast vaginitis, and the rarity of a positive trichomonas preparation when the vaginal discharge had a curd-like appearance.
mesh_terms: D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D002181:Candidiasis, Vulvovaginal / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006069:Gonorrhea / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008281:Maine; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis; D014626:Vaginal Smears; D014627:Vaginitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000191:economics