[Vagino-cytological studies in prostitutes].

Numerous papers on the high incidence of precancerous lesions of the uterine cervix in prostitutes have been published mainly in Anglo-American literature. The reported data were compared with those of prostitutes in a South German city. In a retrospective study on 239 prostitutes and a control group of 502 patients of the same age distribution the data regarding the vaginal flora and the obtained cytologic groups (modified Papanicolaou classification "M unchner Nomenklatur ") were compared. The prostitutes showed a higher rate of cocci in otherwise "comparably clean" smears. The incidence of trichomonas vaginalis was five times higher among the prostitutes. In contradiction to American and British publication there was no higher incidence of smears pointing to precancerous lesions among the prostitutes. It seems that the characteristic "low socioeconomic status" does not apply to prostitutes in our region.