title: Chlamydia trachomatis genovars causing urogenital infections in Santiago, Chile.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chlamydia trachomatis is a common sexually transmitted infection in Chile, but little is known about the genovar distribution in genital infections. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the distribution of C. trachomatis genovars in such cases.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 522 urogenital specimens, 403 from women and 119 from men, were analyzed for C. trachomatis by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting of the ompA gene. Positive specimens were genotyped by DNA sequencing of the amplicons.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-two (11.9%) specimens were positive. Of these, 43 (69.4%) were collected from men and 19 (30.6%) from women (p < 0.0001). Eight genovars were identified in men and seven in women. Genovar E was the most common in both men and women, followed by genovar Da in men, and F in women. Together these three genovars accounted for 84% of infections. Genovar D was the third most common genovar (n = 4). Genovar G was detected in two samples, and sequences of genovars Ba, H, and Ja were each found in single samples. One sample (1.6%) contained mixed sequences. No association was found between gender and specific genovars. Fifty-six (92%) sequences were identical to those reported for the respective reference genovars and the other two have been described in several regions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings add to the results of most studies, which indicate that genovars E, F, and D/Da are the most frequent. No association was found between gender and specific genovars. Despite the heterogeneous population of genovars, most ompA sequences were conserved.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Microbiología y Micología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile , Santiago.
authors.forename: María A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Martínez
authors.forename: Alfredo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ovalle
authors.forename: Rossana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Camponovo
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vidal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D002677:Chile; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005260:Female; D052776:Female Urogenital Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D052801:Male Urogenital Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014566:Urogenital System / Q000382:microbiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; C078167:OMPA outer membrane proteins
keywords: Chlamydia; genovars; urogenital infections