**7. Early treatment and fertility preservation**

The best prevention is to detect and treat early-stage asymptomatic and symptomatic infec‐ tions. This can be achieved by the screening of all sexually active reproductive age women and by educating clinicians and patients on the importance of this testing. The importance of practicing safe sex methods cannot be over emphasized in public. Scholes et al found a 60% reduction in salpingitis prevalence rates when the population was screened for *C.trachomatis* infections compared to when they were not.5

With the advent of modern DNA amplification tests like Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) available very sensitive and specific testing on microbes can be done in a matter of hours. This obviates the need of many organisms as is the case with conventional cultures. Also, the newer tests are also more specific yielding a higher positive predictive value thus avoiding unnec‐ essary treatments. Microbes like *C. trachomatis*[40], *T. vaginalis*[41], and *N. gonorrhoeae*[42] can be detected in samples obtained from the vaginal introitus, and there is no longer a requirement for a speculum examination. There have been efforts to make chlamydial and gonococcal vaccines, but not met much success.
