In this new section oPPracticalDiabetes International, selected original articles and case reports will be published alongside comments by specialists. It is hoped that this occasional series will help broaden and deepen readers' understanding of the diabetes topic in question, emphasize the importance for clinicians working in a specialist field such as diabetes to keep abreast of standards of practice and research in separate but related fields of medicine, and provoke productive debate. Publication of the specialist comments will be always with the original author's knowledge and consent.
AbstractThe study was undertaken to look at the frequency of vaginal discharge, to establish how many women had received treatment for candida without any investigation and to determine whether this form of management is reasonable in practice. One hundred premenopausal women over the age of 16 with Type 1 diabetes were questioned, and 22 of them, who had a discharge at the time of interview, had a vaginal examination, a high vaginal swab taken and a sample cultured for chlamydia. The majority of infections were due to candida. A few other pathogenic organisms and a few commensals were cultured. It was concluded that culture is only necessary if the woman fails to respond to treatment, has a malodorous discharge, has a recurrent problem or is at high risk of sexually transmitted disease. It should be possible to carry out a vaginal examination on any patient with a vaginal discharge and take swabs in a diabetes clinic.
