[Role of Chlamydia trachomatis in the etiology of acute salpingitis. Value of the determination of IgG in 2 blood samples collected at 6 week intervals].

Cultures of specimens from the abdominal cavity (14) or the lower genital tract (11) were positive for Chlamydia trachomatis in 25 (22.7%) of 110 patients with a laparoscopic diagnosis of acute salpingitis. Microimmunofluorescence serodiagnosis showed positive IgG levels (greater than or equal to 1/64) in 35 patients (32%). Of the 34 patients in whom a second serodiagnosis was performed after 6 weeks, 20 (58%) had positive IgG levels (greater than or equal to 1/64) and 12 (35%) had a fourfold or more change in dilution. Thus, culture and serodiagnosis provided evidence of Chlamydia infection in 46% of the patient population. Forty-six patients were followed up for several months to evaluate the response to antibiotic therapy. Among tetracyclines, lymecycline was effective in 19/25 cases, doxycycline in 15/19 cases and minocycline in 2/4 cases. Switching to another tetracycline after failure of the first one usually gave satisfactory results.