Microbiological investigations on genital infections: a nosocomial experience in Palermo.

The new methods for in vitro fertilization and GIFT induced the authors to carry out a retrospective survey on microbiological investigations done on 820 patients (641 women and 179 men) affected with genital infections and 62 newborns hospitalized during the period 1980-1986 to the aim of studying the prevalence of the various microorganisms responsible for sexually transmitted diseases in our area. The biological material obtained from men gave positive results less frequently than that obtained from women (p less than 0.001) although the prevalence of "significant" microorganisms isolated from the same material was overlapping for both sexes (p greater than 0.5). Chlamydia trachomatis positive samples were rare in men (6.1%) as well as in women (4.2%); in one case C. trachomatis was contemporaneously observed in the auricular swab of a newborn and from the cervical swab of the mother. Herpes Simplex virus positive samples were observed in 4 (11.8%) out of 36 women only. This study confirms the usefulness of the microbiological investigation before undertaking attempts for in vitro fertilization.