Pelvic inflammatory disease is a significant matter of concern. It is a chronic disease affecting women of all ages without regard to their socio-economic status. The primary problem with this disease is that it is the cause of most health-related deaths in young women, i.e. those between 15 to 29 years old (Ross, 2014; Ford & Decker, 2016). The most severe challenge with pelvic inflammatory disease is the fact that its symptoms are not always easily seen making this disease hard to diagnose and treat. In addition to it, most women ignore preventive measures, which can be taken to minimize the risks of the disease and the further complication. That said, the primary objective is to increase awareness and knowledge about pelvic inflammatory disease by investigating its primary symptoms and effective preventive measures. The motivation behind stating it as the goal of the research is to decrease the disease rate and improve the quality of life of thousands of women suffering from it.
The complications of pelvic inflammatory disease are dreadful because it affects the upper reproductive tract and reproductive functions leading to chronic pelvic pain, difficulties with getting pregnant, ectopic pregnancy, and even infertility (Campion, Brunham, Gottlieb, & Paavonen, 2015; Ford & Decker, 2016). For this reason, it is vital to be aware of the symptoms of this disease. It should be mentioned that, in some cases, the progression of the disease is asymptomatic, i.e. it is impossible to diagnose the problem because of the mild or no symptoms at all (Wadhwa, L., Wadhwa, S. N., & Jindal, 2015). In other cases, there are easily recognizable symptoms of pelvic inflammatory disease including the following health concerns and signs: fever ≥38.3°C, adnexal tenderness, abnormal vaginal discharge, cervical motion tenderness, and vague pain in the lower abdomen (Misra, Srivastava, & Sharique, 2015; Nkwabong & Dingom, 2015).
Because of the severity of pelvic inflammatory disease and its potential complications, it is vital to be aware of effective preventive measures, which can save from serious health concerns. The most frequent recommendation is to control young women’s sexual health and engage in safe sex. The primary motivation for the similar recommendation is the infectious nature of the disease. That is why it is also vital to get tested for chlamydia every time a young women changes a sexual partner, especially is she was engaged in natural sex, i.e. sex without contraception (Hay et al., 2015). In general, it is recommended to have screenings on a timely basis in order to guarantee women’s sexual and reproductive health. Other preventive measures are social and include increasing awareness about the severity of pelvic inflammatory disease and its symptoms. In fact, raising awareness among young women is one of the most significant and effective preventive measures because when people know about the symptoms and complications, they are more likely to monitor the condition of their health and are interested in preserving it. Some other preventive measures include ethical considerations such as promoting monogamous sexual relations and abstinence (Nwadike, Olusanya, Anaedobe, Kalu, & Ojide, 2015). Another preventive strategy is to identify people at risk and target them for medical intervention, i.e. tests and screenings.
The sections covering symptoms and preventive measures were based on two articles each. The justification for including more than one source is to gather comprehensive information and more details regarding the issues under investigation. All articles that were used for writing these passages were similar because they included the instances of pelvic inflammatory disease. It means that they provided real-life information, which is relevant and appropriate for the purposes of this research. In addition to it, they provided some statistical results of the surveys, which is beneficial for detecting the primary symptoms of the disease and the most effective preventive measures. Nevertheless, there were some differences. For example, the authors of the articles used for writing the passage about the symptoms included different health concerns, and only one sign matched in both investigations – abnormal vaginal discharge. As of the articles covering preventive measures, they mentioned nearly the same preventions except for the fact that Nwadike et al. (2015) proposed to classify preventive measures to primary and secondary. Primary prevention included safe sex and having tests and screenings on a timely basis while secondary measures were ethical and centered on promoting abstinence and monogamous relationships. Still, even though there were some differences in the authors’ findings, these distinctions were beneficial for the purpose of conducting literature review because they helped gather varying opinions and provide comprehensive information on the subjects under investigation.
To sum up, pelvic inflammatory disease is a serious chronic disease having an infectious nature. Because its symptoms are not always recognizable and are sometimes mistaken for the signs of other diseases, it is paramount to be aware of effective preventive measures. However, it should be remembered that even if a woman chooses to lead the monogamous sexual life, she should take care of her sexual and reproductive health and have tests made on a timely basis to diminish the risks of similar health concerns.
References
Campion, E. W., Brunham, R. C., Gottlieb, S. L., & Paavonen, J. (2015). Pelvic inflammatory disease. The New England Journal of Medicine, 372(21), 2039-2048.
Ford, G. W., & Decker, C. F. (2016). Pelvic inflammatory disease. Disease-a-Month, 20 April 2016. Web.
Hay, P. E., Kerry, S. R., Normansell, R., Horner, P. J., Reid, F., Kerry, S. M., … Pippa Oakeshott. (2015). Which sexually active young female students are most at risk of pelvic inflammatory disease? A prospective study. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 2015(0), 1-4.
Misra, J. S., Srivastava, A. N., & Sharique, A. (2015). Cervical cytology associated with pelvic inflammatory diseases. Journal of Cytology and Histology, 6(4), 1-3.
Nkwabong, E., & Dingom, M. A. N. (2015). Acute pelvic inflammatory disease in a sub-Saharan country: A cross sectional descriptive study. International Journal of Reproduction, Contraception, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 4(3), 809-813.
Nwadike, V. U., Olusanya, O., Anaedobe, G. C., Kalu, I., & Ojide, K. C. (2015). Patterns of sexually transmitted infections in patients presenting in special treatment clinic in Ibadan South Western Nigeria. PanAfrican Medical Journal, 30(21), 222-227.
Ross, (2014). Pelvic inflammatory disease. Medicine, 42(6), 333-337.
Wadhwa, L., Wadhwa, S. N., & Jindal, S. (2015). A rare case of flare-up of PID in infertility treatment. Case Reports in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2015, 1-4.