title: Urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis serovars in men and women with a symptomatic or asymptomatic infection: an association with clinical manifestations?
abstract: To determine whether certain Chlamydia trachomatis serovars are preferentially associated with a symptomatic or an asymptomatic course of infection, C. trachomatis serovar distributions were analyzed in symptomatically and asymptomatically infected persons. Furthermore, a possible association between C. trachomatis serovars and specific clinical symptoms was investigated. C. trachomatis-positive urine specimens from 219 asymptomatically infected men and women were obtained from population-based screening programs in Amsterdam. Two hundred twenty-one C. trachomatis-positive cervical and urethral swabs from symptomatically and asymptomatically infected men and women were obtained from several hospital-based departments. Serovars were determined using PCR-based genotyping, i.e., restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the nested-PCR-amplified omp1 gene. The most prevalent C. trachomatis serovars, D, E, and F, showed no association with either a symptomatic or asymptomatic course of infection. The most prominent differences found were (i) the association of serovar Ga with symptoms in men (P = 0.0027), specifically, dysuria (P < 0.0001), and (ii) detection of serovar Ia more often in asymptomatically infected people (men and women) (P = 0.035). Furthermore, in women, serovar K was associated with vaginal discharge (P = 0.002) and serovar variants were found only in women (P = 0.045).
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Section of Molecular Pathology, University Hospital Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Morré
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rozendaal
authors.forename: I G
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: van Valkengoed
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Boeke
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: van Voorst Vader
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schirm
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: de Blok
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: van Den Hoek
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: van Doornum
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Meijer
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: van Den Brule
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002353:Carrier State; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000209:etiology*; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000145:classification*; D005260:Female; D052776:Female Urogenital Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D052801:Male Urogenital Diseases; D012703:Serotyping; D012737:Sex Factors