Endometrial infection in women with Chlamydial salpingitis.

Endometrial contents collected by a protected aspiration method from 18 women with acute salpingitis were studied by culture. Chlamydia trachomatis was recovered from the endometrial samples of eight women and from the cervix of six of them. C. trachomatis was isolated from the cervix, but not from the endometrium, of seven women. Twelve of the 15 patients who harbored C. trachomatis in the genital tract developed a significant antibody response to the organism. The study suggests that C. trachomatis spreads canalicularly from the cervix to the fallopian tubes and that this organism can cause endometrial infection.