A Serological Survey of Chlamydia trachomatis and its Related Factors in Individuals with High-Risk Sexual Behavior.

BACKGROUND

Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection (STI) throughout the world and its annual incidence is reported to be around 50 million cases. High-risk sexual behaviors are among the predisposing factors for STIs.

OBJECTIVE

The present study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis and the factors affecting it in patients with high-risk sexual behaviors who had attended clinic of high risk sexual behavior of Urmia between October 2015 and June 2016.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study conducted at Behavior Disorders Clinic in Urmia. One hundred and seventy six patients who had attended the clinic were selected using convenient sampling. A questionnaire was filled out by the participants and a 5 cc sample of their blood was collected to determine their serological level of antibodies. The participants' blood serum samples were analyzed by ELISA. Descriptive tests, T-test, and Chi-square test were run to analyze the data. All the statistical analyses were done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 23.

RESULTS

The results indicated that 52.3% of the attendees of the Behavior Disorders Clinic in Urmia were single, 78.4% had a sexual partner except from their spouse, 31.8% had multiple sexual partners, and 8.52% had a high-risk partner. The results also revealed that there was a significant relationship between gender and presence of anti-Chlamydia antibodies (p=0.02). However, no significant relationship was observed between other demographic characteristics or history of high-risk behaviors and presence of anti- Chlamydia antibodies.

CONCLUSION

Since the frequency of positive IgM was 11.9% in the present study, and Chlamydia trachomatis infections are mostly asymptomatic, early diagnosis and treatment of this pathogen can have a very important role in public health improvement. Screening individuals with high-risk sexual behavior is recommended.