title: Treatment of anaerobic female genital tract infections with metronidazole.
abstract: Intravenous metronidazole was given to 12 patients with severe genital tract infections. Nine of them suffered from acute salpingitis or pelvic inflammatory disease and the remaining three from acute endomyometritis following cesarean section. Metronidazole was the only antimicrobial agent given to 4 patients. In the remaining eight, treatment had been started with other drugs such as gentamicin and/or penicillin, and metronidazole was added two to five days later. Blood cultures and cultures taken from the cervical os or pus of abscesses had previously shown either anaerobic or mixed pathogens. All patients recovered well. No severe side effects were observed during metronidazole therapy. To study the pharmacokinetics of metronidazole the drug was administered intravenously or orally. The levels of the drug in the menses and cervical mucus of 25 healthy women were tested using the agar diffusion method. The concentration of the medication in the menses and mucus was found to adequately inhibit in vitro the most commonly anaerobic pathogens found in female genital tract infections.
mesh_terms: D001421:Bacteria, Anaerobic; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism; D002582:Cervix Mucus / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005831:Genital Diseases, Female / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008598:Menstruation; D008795:Metronidazole / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D008795:Metronidazole