PEDIATRICS Vol. 70 No. 4 October 1982, pp. 620-623
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Screening for Pharyngeal Gonorrhea in the Urban Teenager

Mariam R. Chacko MD1, Sheridan Phillips PhD1, and Marc S. Jacobson MD1

1 Divisions of Adolescent Medicine, Behavioral Pediatrics, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore

A retrospective chart review assessed the occurrence of pharyngeal gonorrhea among 546 teenagers who attended a general adolescent clinic and were cultured for gonorrhea; they had been routinely cultured at three sites (cervix/urethra, rectum, and pharynx) regardless of their history of sexual practice. No record of specific sexual practice was available. This population was predominantly urban, black, and female; the age range was 11 to 22 years (mean = 16.5). The overall occurrence of gonorrhea was 14.7% (80/546). Pharyngeal gonorrhea was detected in 2.7% of the study population, representing 12 females and three males. Of the 80 patients with gonorrhea, 15% had only pharyngeal gonorrhea. History was available for 13/15 patients: none had pharyngeal symptoms. Approximately half were detected by routine screening at a family planning visit; the remainder had complaints related to sexually transmitted disease. The occurrence of pharyngeal gonorrhea is sufficiently high to merit study of the indications for pharyngeal culture of teenaged patients. Given the potential for disseminated infection and absence of information regarding the reliability of self-report, it currently appears appropriate to culture adolescents routinely for pharyngeal gonorrhea, regardless of stated sexual practice, whenever genital cultures are collected.

Submitted on August 18, 1981
Accepted on January 20, 1982