[Incidence of Chlamydia trachomatis isolated from endocervical columnar cells of the uterine cervix].

To study the incidence of Chlamydia trachomatis (C.T.) infection among women, we obtained swab (endocervical columnar cells) from the uterine cervix of 1,041 women attending the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Gunma University Hospital. The results were as follows. 1) Overall, C.T. was isolated from 60 of the 1,041 women (5.8%). With reference to the diagnoses, the organism was isolated from 38 of 183 patients with cervicitis (20.8%) and from 22 of 858 asymptomatic womens (2.6%) (p less than 0.001). 2) C.T. antigen was detected at a higher frequency (15.0%) in the under 30 years age group than in the over 30 year age group (2.3%) (p less than 0.001). 3) The unstained inclusion C.T. bodies were confirmed more easily by phase contrast microscopy. 4) Inclusion bodies were specified as either reticulate or elementary bodies by the acridine orange staining method.