DEFINITION.—Vaginitis is a term used to designate inflammation of the mucous membrane of the vagina.
SYNONYMS.—Colpitis, Elythritis.
VARIETIES.—Three distinct varieties of vaginitis are met with—viz. simple, specific, and granular.
ETIOLOGY.—Predisposing Causes.—Young girls are not unfrequently the subjects of vaginitis in consequence of want of cleanliness, exposure to cold, ascarides migrating from the rectum into the vagina, or the introduction of foreign substances. It also frequently appears in consequence of smallpox, measles, and scarlatina. In adults it may be caused by exposure to cold or wet, more particularly at or near a menstrual period. The insertion of a sponge into the vagina, as is not uncommon for the purpose of topical medication or uterine support, acts as an irritant if allowed to remain a few days, which may cause severe inflammation. Pessaries, irritating vaginal injections, gonorrhoeal infection, certain conditions of the urine, as in diabetes, acrid uterine discharges, childbirth—more particularly if there has been retention of putrefying secretions—and chemical agents used in treatment of uterine diseases, are sometimes causes. Uterine discharges which cause vaginitis are not generally irritating until they reach the vulva, where by exposure to the air they become changed, first causing vulvitis, and next inflammation of the vaginal mucous membrane.
Some women have slight attacks of vaginitis after each menstrual period, but they are generally slight and soon subside; others will have attacks after each coition or after great physical exertion, but with such patients the disease is not severe, and usually passes off without any signs remaining. It is quite common among prostitutes, independent of specific causes, in consequence of excessive coition. Chronic vaginitis or vaginal leucorrhoea is not uncommon with newly-married women in consequence of excess or awkwardness in coition.
Granular vaginitis is generally caused by pregnancy, but occasionally it seems to be produced by simple or specific vaginal inflammation. A strumous diathesis or a disordered state of the blood, as in phthisis or other constitutional disorders, are predisposing causes.
Mention has been made by some writers of diphtheritic and senile vaginitis. Diphtheritic inflammation of the vagina is sometimes seen during epidemics of the disease or among puerperal women in crowded lying-in hospitals. Senile vaginitis is occasionally met with in women after the climacteric period. Its cause is wholly in consequence of the physiological retrogressive processes incident to the change of life. The epithelium is shed in patches, and, according to Hildebrandt, the raw surfaces adhere, causing contraction of the vagina.
SYMPTOMATOLOGY, COURSE, DURATION, PATHOLOGY, TERMINATION, AND COMPLICATIONS.—The subjective symptoms of the three varieties of vaginitis which have been mentioned are nearly identical, but in their physical signs a marked difference is perceptible. In the outset there is a sense of heat and burning in the vagina, a feeling of pain and weight in the perineum, and a frequent desire to urinate. The passage of urine causes pain and a feeling of scalding in the urethra. It is believed by many authorities that the sense of scalding is more pronounced in the specific variety. Not unfrequently there are backache and pain radiating down the thighs into the hips, along the spine, and into the head. Sometimes, with the other symptoms mentioned, there will be a decided febrile disturbance, chilliness alternating with heat, a rapid pulse, and a foul tongue. With such symptoms the thermometer will show an elevated temperature. Coincident with the beginning of pain and irritation the patient has an itching sensation, which sometimes becomes intolerable, and is generally worse at night when she is warm in bed. Emmet states that some cases are so severe as to require anæsthetics before relief can be obtained. After the lapse of from twenty-four to seventy-two hours these symptoms subside, and there is a profuse purulent discharge, yellowish or greenish in appearance and of an offensive odor. In many cases the discharge is of so acrid a character that it excoriates the vulva and surrounding parts. Walking, or even standing, is often painful, particularly the former, owing to the attrition of the inflamed or excoriated surfaces.
A physical examination causes pain, and if the inflammation has extended to the vulva, urethra, or the vulvo-vaginal glands, it will often produce intense suffering. When the vaginitis is acute, the labia are swollen, the vagina assumes a more or less intense red color in place of the light or pale rose-color of health; it will also be swollen, and at the beginning seem unnaturally dry, but very soon, although still red, it will be covered with a yellowish or greenish-yellow, muco-purulent discharge of an offensive odor. By careful examination with the speculum the vaginal canal will be seen to have a congested appearance, with abraded points, and sometimes follicular ulceration will be found. Generally, the appearance of thick mucus within the os uteri indicates an extension of the inflammatory process into the cervical canal.
Sometimes in gonorrhoeal vaginitis the full force of the disease seems to be chiefly expended in the urethra; when this is the case, and patients complain of intense scalding in passing urine, a finger pressed against the anterior vaginal wall will usually cause pus to exude from the urethral canal.