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| Clinical Background: |
Chlamydia trachomatis
- Obligate intracellular bacterium that is transmitted primarily through sexual contact
- The most common sexually transmitted microbe
- Disease incidence is rising in the United States (Figure).
- Infection can cause urethritis, salpingitis, endometritis, bartholinitis, lymphogranuloma venereum, and Fitz-Hugh Curtis syndrome (perihepatitis),
- The most common signs of infection are mucopurulent cervicitis in women and urethritis in men
- Damage to Fallopian tubes causes infertility and predisposes patients to ectopic pregnancies
- Conjunctivitis and pneumonia can occur in neonates as a result of perinatal acquisition from mothers with cervicitis
- Most infections are asymptomatic.
- Significant damage to reproductive organs can occur in the absence of symptoms
- Infections can be treated with doxycycline or azithromycin
Reported rates of Chlamydia, U.S. 1984-1997
- Amplification tests are more sensitive than other diagnostic tests for C. trachomatis including culture, antigen detection, and nucleic acid detection by hybridization (Table).
- Laboratories should offer both culture and an amplified test
- Allows for:
- serotype identification in medicolegal cases
- Detection of organism in non-genital specimens (conjunctiva and respiratory specimens) and in genital specimens that contain inhibitors of amplification assays
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