title: The Prevalence of Endocervical Chlamydia trachomatis Infection Among Young Females in Kashan, Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chlamydia trachomatis is one of the major bacterial agents of the sexually transmitted diseases worldwide, especially among young females. There is no data regarding the prevalence of genital Chlamydia infection among young females in Kashan, Iran.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The current study aimed to determine the prevalence of endocervical C. trachomatis infection among females aged 17 - 35 years in Kashan, Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the current descriptive study, 255 endocervical swab samples were collected from the obstetrics and gynecology clinics of Kashan, Iran from December 2012 to July 2013. Cervical swabs were placed in transport media and sent to the laboratory. To identify C. trachomatis in the samples Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was performed to amplify a sequence in the cryptic plasmid, generating a fragment of about 512base pair. Demographic data was collected considering the relevant risk factors by a standard questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 255 females were tested. The prevalence of genital C. trachomatis was 2.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.54% - 4.26%); 3.2% of the females in the ≤ 25-year-old group were positive versus 1.8% in the 26 - 35-year-old group. The most general presented symptoms of genital C. trachomatis infection were vaginal discharge (66.6%) and lumbar pain (50%). No significant relationships were found between C. trachomatis infection and the risk factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To the authors' knowledge this is the first study to describe endocervical C. trachomatis infection in this area. The obtained results also emphasized the importance of routine diagnosis of C. trachomatis to control of the infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Shima
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Afrasiabi
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Rezvan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moniri
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Faculty of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mansoreh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Samimi
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khorshidi
authors.affiliation: Trauma Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Seyyed Gholam Abbas
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Mousavi
keywords: Chlamydia Trachomatis; Endocervix; PCR