Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Sep;14(5):437-9.
doi: 10.5811/westjem.2013.1.13347.

Vaginal foreign bodies and child sexual abuse: an important consideration

Forrest T Closson  1 , Richard Lichenstein
Affiliations

Vaginal foreign bodies and child sexual abuse: an important consideration

Forrest T Closson et al. West J Emerg Med. 2013 Sep.

Abstract

Vaginal foreign bodies are a complaint occasionally encountered in pediatric clinics and emergency departments, and when pediatric patients present with a vaginal foreign body sexual abuse may not be considered. We describe two children with vaginal foreign bodies who were found to have been sexually abused. Each child had a discharge positive for a sexually transmitted infection despite no disclosure or allegation of abuse. We recommend that all pre-pubertal girls who present with a vaginal foreign body should be considered as possible victims of sexual abuse and should receive a sexual abuse history and testing for sexually transmitted infections.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Kellogg N. American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect. The evaluation of sexual abuse in children. Pediatrics. 2005;116:506–512. - PubMed
    1. Friedrich WN, Grambsch P, Damon L, et al. Child sexual behavior inventory: normative and clinical comparisons. Psychol Assessment. 1992;4:303–311.
    1. Paradise JE, Willis ED. Probability of vaginal foreign body in girls with genital complaints. Am J Dis Child. 1985;139:472–476. - PubMed
    1. Striegel AM, Myers JB, Sorensen MD, et al. Vaginal discharge and bleeding in girls younger than 6 years. J Urology. 2006;176:2632–2635. - PubMed
    1. Davis AJ, Katz VL. Pediatric and adolescent gynecology: Gynecologic examination, infections, trauma, pelvic mass, precocious puberty. In: Katz VL, Lentz GM, Lobo RA, Gershenson, editors. Comprehensive Gynecology. 5th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Mosby Elsevier; 2007. pp. 257–266.