PELVIC inflammatory disease (PID)pr

PELVIC inflammatory disease (PID)
produces acute pain for over a million
women in the United States each year.1
Along with these symptomatic women,
countless others with "silent" PID face
increased risk of chronic pelvic pain, ectopie pregnancy, and infertility.2 Because of this widespread suffering and
the high treatment costs associated
with PID and its sequelae,3 investments
in prevention offer clear benefit-cost advantages.4 Prevention of PID and its
sequelae can occur on three levels—priFrom
the Center for Reproductive Health Policy Research,
School of Medicine, University of California,
San Francisco (Dr Washington); the Division of STD/HIV
Prevention, Center for Prevention Services, Centers for
Disease Control, Atlanta, Ga (Dr Cates); and the Sexually
Transmitted Diseases Branch, National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of
Health, Bethesda, Md (Dr Wasserheit).
Reprint requests to the Center for Reproductive
Health Policy Research, School of Medicine, University
of California, 1388 Sutter St, 11th Floor, San Francisco,
CA 94109 (Dr Washington).
mary, secondary, and tertiary prevention.