1 Department of Pediatrics, Center for Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison 1300 University Ave, Madison, WI 53706
To the Editor.
The article, "Screening for Pharyngeal Gonorrhea in the Urban Teenager,"1 calls attention to the pharynx as an important site of infection and recommends routine culture of the pharynx in this population group.
Among 80 adolescents with gonorrhea, 15 (19%) had pharyngeal infection. Twelve patients had a positive culture from the pharynx alone and three patients had positive cultures from both pharynx and cervix.
It should be kept in mind that a single cervical culture is not infallible and even under optimal conditions in a research laboratory does not diagnose all infected females; 10% to 30% of infected patients will be missed.2