Abstract

A clinical investigation was undertaken to determine if chemoprophylaxis in the form of a contraceptive pessary would reduce the rate of reinfection with gonorrhoea in 1245 female patients attending a venereal disease clinic. After the introduction of the pessary the reinfection rate over a 16-week period was 19% compared with 40% in the control clinic patients. It was also found that women could be motivated to use a pessary; 65% of women used pessaries before sexual intercourse at least some of the time. High reinfection rates in venereal disease clinic patients emphasise the need for improved methods of preventing reinfection. Vaginal chemoprophylaxis appears to be an alternative means of reducing gonorrhoea morbidity.