Non-gonococcal infections of the female genitalia.

Non-gonococcal inflammations of the female genitalia are of very common occurrence and many of them correspond to forms of non-gonococcal urethritis in the male. Some authors, including Ilyin (1966), have found various inflammatory processes of the lower urogenital tract in the majority of women who had had sexual contact with men suffering from non-gonococcal urethritis; such women may have vaginitis, cervicitis, urethritis, and other inflammatory changes. Trichomoniasis and candidiasis are the best known ofthese diseases in women and it is considered that other infections have not received adequate attention. Before discussing these various conditions it is necessary to classify diseases appearing as the result of infection during sexual intercourse, and to give a definition of "venereal disease". I call venereal diseases those in which the causative agents are transmitted mainly by sexual contact. So the main determining factor for recognition of a venereal disease is the means of transmission of its causative agent. Sexual transmission of venereal diseases is determined by the characteristics of their causative micro-organisms: (1) Under natural conditions they can exist only in human beings and the common sites are the genitourinary organs of both sexes, although, as in the case of syphilis, they may subsequently become widespread. (2) They are very unstable in an unnatural environment. Both Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Trichomonas vaginalis have these properties and are transmitted sexually. In my opinion all organisms, known and unknown, which have these characteristics are usually transmitted sexually. There is also another category of diseases which