Causes and routes of infection of pelvic inflammatory disease

1. Spread through the lymphatic system: Bacteria and pathogens invade the pelvic connective tissue and other parts of the internal reproductive organs through the lymphatic vessels of the vulva, vagina, cervix and uterine body trauma. It is the main transmission route for puerperal infection, post-abortion infection and infection after placement of an intrauterine contraceptive device, and is more common in infections with streptococci, Escherichia coli and anaerobic bacteria.

2. Spread upward along the genital mucosa: After the pathogen invades the vulva and vagina, it spreads along the mucosal surface through the cervix, endometrium, and fallopian tube mucosa to the ovaries and abdominal cavity. Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis and Staphylococcus aureus spread along this route.

3. Transmission through blood circulation: The pathogen first invades other systems of the human body, and then infects the genitals through blood circulation. This is the main route of tuberculosis infection.

4. Direct spread: After other organs in the abdominal cavity are infected, they spread directly to the internal reproductive organs. For example, appendicitis can cause right-sided salpingitis.

Causes of pelvic inflammatory disease include:

1. There are many causes of pelvic inflammatory disease, mainly postpartum or post-abortion infection, or intrauterine surgery such as curettage and fallopian tube insufflation. However, many cases of pelvic inflammatory disease are also easily caused by poor menstrual hygiene, especially sexual intercourse during menstruation, and infection with sexually transmitted diseases.

2. People with a history of unclean sexual life, multiple sexual partners, and starting sexual intercourse at a young age are more likely to be infected with sexually transmitted diseases, which may lead to pelvic inflammatory disease. Therefore, pelvic inflammatory disease mostly occurs in sexually active and menstruating women. As premarital sex increases, the incidence of pelvic inflammatory disease also increases.

3. Infection after intrauterine surgical operation: such as placement or removal of intrauterine contraceptive ring, curettage, tubal insufflation, hysterosalpingography, hysteroscopy, submucosal myomectomy, etc. Due to sexual life before operation or lax surgical disinfection or inappropriate selection of preoperative indications, the original chronic inflammation of the reproductive tract may be caused by surgical interference and cause acute attack and spread; some patients do not pay attention to personal hygiene after operation, or do not follow the doctor's orders after operation, which can also cause bacterial ascending infection and cause pelvic inflammatory disease.

It can be seen from this that a small detail that may be insignificant in daily life may cause pelvic inflammatory disease, so everyone must pay attention and learn to protect themselves. If you are not planning to have a baby, you must take adequate contraceptive measures. Women who have repeated abortions are prone to inflammation of the reproductive system and even infertility. You should avoid overexerting during menstruation, pay attention to nutritional supplements, and eat less or even no raw or cold food.

How to prevent pelvic inflammatory disease

1. Develop good vaginal cleaning habits to prevent all types of infection. Keep the perineum clean and dry, and wash the vulva with warm water every night. Do not use soap or various care liquids or medicines to clean the vulva, so as not to affect the vulva's own defense mechanism.

2. Pay attention to menstrual and sexual hygiene: During menstruation, the endometrium will be exfoliated and bleed, and the cervix will open. If you do not pay attention to hygiene, it may lead to ascending infection of bacteria and cause pelvic inflammatory disease. Therefore, you should avoid sexual intercourse, swimming, and bathing during menstruation, and do not use unclean sanitary pads to prevent pelvic inflammatory disease.

3. Take good precautions before and after surgery: During reproductive tract surgeries such as childbirth, artificial abortion, and IUD insertion and removal, pathogens can invade the pelvic connective tissue and other parts of the internal reproductive organs through trauma to the vulva, vagina, cervix, and uterine body, causing acute pelvic inflammatory disease.

4. Actively treat gynecological diseases: Treat vulvovaginitis promptly. Vulvovaginitis is a very common gynecological disease. If you experience changes in vulvovaginal itching, increased leucorrhea, yellow color, bean curd-like or watery discharge, or odor, you may be suffering from vulvovaginitis. If this happens, you should go to a regular hospital for treatment in time. In addition, if you suffer from acute pelvic inflammatory disease, you must receive timely treatment to completely cure it and prevent it from turning into chronic pelvic inflammatory disease.