Prevalence, epidemiological and clinical correlates of genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of genital infection with Chlamydia trachomatis in different groups of patients in the region of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, over a period of four years (1992-1995) and to establish epidemiological and clinical correlates of infection.

Material And Methods: Five groups were enrolled in the study: group A-990 symptomatic male sexually transmitted disease (STD) patients, group B-1023 symptomatic female STD patients, group C-253 gynaecological patients, and asymptomatic groups D-276 men and group E-231 women. Urethral samples from men and cervical and urethral samples from women were examined for C.

Detection of Chlamydia trachomatis in first-void urine from men and women as an alternative to swabs.

Background: Ideally, an effective preventive strategy for the control of Chlamydia trachomatis infection should take into account the following attributes: rapid and simple specimen collection, low cost and noninvasive test processing. Therefore, we compared the performance profile of urine-based detection of C. trachomatis antigen in first-void urine with that of testing urethral and endocervical samples in men and women.