Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) is an obligate intracellular bacterium that causes genital disease and the most common sexually transmitted infection in the world. The most frequent risk factors associated with chlamydial infection are related to sexual behavior, multiple partners, and inconsistent condom use. Presenting primarily as urtheritis in men and cervicitis in women, CT a major cause of chronic pelvic inflammatory disease and subsequent infertility in women, eye and lung infection in newborns and other manifestations. Identification of CT-infected patients may prevent its spread and thereby reduce the high morbidity associated with CT infections. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a sensitive and specific method for the detection of small quantity of bacterial DNA in clinical samples. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of C. trachomatis by PCR in genital samples from patients in the city of Kerman.

Methods: A total of 130 genital samples including 64 endocervical and 66 urethral swab samples were collected by physicians. Nucleic acid was extracted from each sample using a commercial DNA extraction kit. PCR primers specific for a conserved region of the C. trachomatis omp2 gene, encoding an outer membrane protein, were used for amplification. 

Results: A total of 9.2% (6.25% of cervicitis and 12.1% of urethritis) of the samples were found positive for CT using this PCR method.

Conclusions:  The present study shows a high prevalence of CT infection, especially in men with urethritis. Such patients should be referred to genitourinary clinics for treatment and partner notification. Given its worldwide prevalence, further CT studies on more populations are needed to assess potential public health implications of these infections.

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 !mso]> ject classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui> Background: Chlamydia trachomatis is a common and curable STI that may be symptomatic or asymptomatic. The few studies on C. trachomatis among Iranian women have had, for the most part, small sample sizes and are therefore unsuitable for epidemiological deductions. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of urogenital C. trachomatis infections by PCR on urine samples of married women in their fertile years in order to determine the need for a C. trachomatis screening program for asymptomatic women in Iran.
Methods: This descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study was performed on 991 married women. The research material consisted of questionnaires and urine samples, which were transported daily to Avesina Research Institute, Tehran, Iran, to extract their DNA and prepare them for PCR tests. The gathered data were analyzed by SPSS, version 13, and evaluated statistically by t-test, chi-square test, Fisher's exact test and logistic regression, considering p<0.05 as significant.
Results: Of all the subjects, 127 (12.8%) were positive by PCR for C. trachomatis. The mean age of the participants was 28.88± 6.19 years. Infection was more prevalent among those with lower levels of education, who were employed and not pregnant. This infection was more prevalent among those who were using contraception, especially condoms. Reproductive history revealed that infection was more prevalent among participants with a history of vaginal discharge, pelvic pain, infertility and low birth-weight infants, and less prevalent among those with a history of abortion, preterm delivery and ectopic pregnancy. However, these patterns were not statistically significant.
Conclusion: In populations with C. trachomatis prevalences higher than 4%, screening programs are recommended. Thus, Chlamydia screening should be part of the health care program in Iran to reduce the burden of this disease. 

Background: Chlamydia Trachomatis is the most common cause of trachoma and subsequently give rise to neonatal chlamydial conjunctivitis (NCC), adult ophthalmic inclusion infection, sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and pneumonia. The goal of this study was to access the incidence of chlamydia trachomatis in the normal (ophthalmic infection free) population.

Methods: In a cross sectional study 250 patients referring to Farabi Eye university Hospital Tehran, Iran for non infectious ophthalmic disease in different age categories were selected and accessed for chlamydial IgM and IgG by ELISA method.

Results: 250 patients (50% men and 50% women) with the mean age of 40 (ranging from one to 83 years old) were tested. IgG was detected in 11 (five females and six males) patients (4.4%) All of them had more than 31 years old. IgM was detected in 18 (13 females and 5 males) patients (7.2%). No test revealed simultaneous high IgG and IgM titre in the same patient.

Conclusions: There was a low grade of chlamydial infection in our study population. So it is recommended to use serological methods for screening of ophthalmic infections in centers where no other test methods are available and in case of positive results confirmatory antigen tests to be used.

Background: Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection in the world, but the effect of this infection on male fertility is still controversial. Despite reports of interaction between Mycoplasma genitalium and sperm, this pathogen in semen samples of infertile men is less studied. We studied, the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis and Mycoplasma genitalium infection in infertile men.
Methods: Among attending Avicenna Infertility Center, 120 men who had abnormal semen analysis tests were selected and the samples were taken. After detailed analysis of semen quality, DNA was extracted from each sample by chelex. Samples were evaluated for these two pathogens by multiplex PCR. Results were statistically analyzed.
Results: Chlamydia trachomatis and Mycoplasma genitalium was detected in 23/3% and 12/5% of the samples, respectively. Although, Mycoplasma genitalium infection rises by increasing (P=0.640) and decreasing in age of first sexually activity (P=0.203), and also positive cases of Chlamydia trachomatis infection showed increase regarding age increase (P=0.619) and age decrease in first sexually activity (P=0.511), but these differences were not statistically significant.
Conclusion: All in all, regarding to the increased prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis infection compared with the only similar study in Iran and high prevalence of Mycoplasma genitalium infection in infertile men, this assessment was done. A multiplex PCR protocol rapidly and simultaneously identify these organisms in comparison with uniplex from clinical samples. Based on our results screening for Chlamydia trachomatis and Mycoplasma genitalium infection among infertile men seems to be valuable.