Cervical infection with Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae in women from ten areas in four continents. A cross-sectional study.
OBJECTIVE
Better information on the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) infection is needed in many world areas.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study of population-based samples of nonpregnant women aged 15 to 44 years in Nigeria, Colombia, Argentina, Vietnam (2 areas), China, Thailand (2 areas), Korea, and Spain. 5,328 consenting women aged 15 to 44 years participated. Exfoliated cervical cells were collected and testing for CT and NG and human papillomavirus (HPV) was done using PCR-based assays.


RESULTS
Age-standardized CT prevalence ranged between 0.2% (95% confidence interval, CI: 0.0-0.7%) in Spain and 5.6% (95% CI: 3.4-7.8%) in Nigeria. NG ranged between 0% (with broad CIs) in several areas and 2.6% (95% CI: 1.0-4.2%) in Nigeria. Prevalence of CT in all areas combined was greater in women aged 15 to 24 (4.5; 95% CI: 3.4-5.8%) than 25 to 44 (2.6; 95% CI: 2.1-3.1%), whereas NG prevalence was similar in the 2 age groups (0.3%). The only significant risk factors were NG infection (for CT), CT infection (for NG) and infection with high-risk HPV types (for both).


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of CT and, most notably, NG was relatively low in a variety of countries. Our findings, however, do not apply to subsets of high-risk women who are likely to be underrepresented in our population-based samples.
Franceschi
Silvia
S
International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France. franceschi@iarc.fr
Smith
Jennifer S
JS
van den Brule
Adriaan
A
Herrero
Rolando
R
Arslan
Annie
A
Anh
Pham-Thi-Hoang
PT
Bosch
F Xavier
FX
Hieu
Nguyen-Trong
NT
Matos
Elena
E
Posso
Hector
H
Qiao
You-Lin
YL
Shin
Hai-Rim
HR
Sukvirach
Sukhon
S
Thomas
Jaiye O
JO
Snijders
Peter J F
PJ
Muñoz
Nubia
N
Meijer
Chris J L M
CJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001208:Asia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis; D003105:Colombia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006069:Gonorrhea / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D009344:Neisseria gonorrhoeae; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D002577:Uterine Cervical Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control