Detection of Chlamydia trachomatis infection in sexually active women in Venezuela.

Introduction

Genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection is one of the most frequent in the world; about 85 million new cases of this pathology are registered each year, which causes severe complications in women and newborns.

Objective

To determine the clinical-epidemiological characteristics of C. trachomatis infection in sexually active Venezuelan women. Materials and methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional, and field study based on the clinical history and physical examination, detection of infection with immunoenzymatic assay with anti-LPS polyclonal antibody and confirmation of results with molecular biology test. The sample consisted of 100 sexually active women over 12 years of age from Carabobo state, Venezuela.

Results

The women were mostly between 20 and 45 years old, in 25% of them IgG antibodies to C. trachomatis were detected and in 84% of these the infection was confirmed by PCR, in none of the women IgM antibodies to C. trachomatis were found.

Conclusion

Chronic infection characterizes women between 20 and 45 years of age; the immunoenzymatic test yielded false positives corroborated by PCR.