[Muco-purulent cervicitis: a frequent but little-known pathology. Clinical and laboratory considerations].

: In order to assess the frequency of cervicitis, to investigate its aetiological causes and to open the debate upon this subject, the authors examined 144 not hospitalized women aging between 18 and 47. They were all in their fertile period and not pregnant. The diagnosis of MPC was given on the basis of the evaluation of the number of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PNL) found on the endocervical smears, which had been previously coloured by the Gram method: the patients with an average number of PNL greater than 10 per microscopical field at a magnification of 1,000 were considered suffering from MPC, while those with a number of PNL less than 10 formed a group of control. Statistical methods were applied to the two different groups to verify the existence of any relationship between clinical, anamnestic and microbiologic features and MPC. The two groups were compared even after excluding those patients with a presence of Trichomonas vaginalis or yeasts and those suffering from bacterial vaginosis (BV). No significant relationship was found between the isolated microorganisms and MPC, while BV turned out to be related negatively. The objective signs of ectopia and erythema and the pH of the vaginal secretion turned out to be related significantly only after excluding from the selection those patients with a vaginal pathology, while including them, the association turned out to be significant only as to ectopia. The authors point out that: a) MPC represents the most frequent clinical condition; b) the greater part of MPC appears to have an unknown aetiology.