title: Chlamydia trachomatis genital infection in apparently healthy adult population of Tamil Nadu, India: a population-based study.
abstract: Since the epidemiology of Chlamydia trachomatis infection in apparently healthy population has not been studied in India, a population-based study was conducted in the state of Tamil Nadu, India in order to analyse the prevalence of genital chlamydial infections in the community and to implement control programmes. A representative sample was taken from three randomly selected districts by using the 'probability proportional to size' cluster survey method. Households were the basic units of clusters. Adults aged 15-45 years, pre-identified from the selected households were enrolled during the medical camps conducted for a major study on community prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases in Tamil Nadu. Blood and urine samples collected from the study subjects were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for anti-chlamydial IgM antibodies and by the commercial Amplicor polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for chlamydial DNA. The prevalence of anti-C. trachomatis antibodies determined by IgM-ELISA was 2.4% (95% CI 1.6%-3.2%). The prevalence of genital chlamydial infection determined by PCR was 1.1% (95% CI 0.5%-1.7%). Majority of the detected infections (68.8%) were asymptomatic. This is the first Indian report on the prevalence of genital chlamydial infections in the general population. It is concluded that this study provides evidence for a substantial burden of approximately 10 million asymptomatic genital chlamydial infection cases in the sexually active age groups in the general population of India.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Dr. ALM Post Graduate Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Madras, Taramani, Chennai, India 600 113.
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Joyee
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Thyagarajan
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rajendran
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hari
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Balakrishnan
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jeyaseelan
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kurien
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000652:urine; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D004269:DNA, Bacterial