Conjunctival infection with Chlamydia trachomatis in sexual partners of patients with adult inclusion conjunctivitis.

To compare the incidence of conjunctival infection with Chlamydia trachomatis in sexual partners of patients with newly diagnosed adult inclusion conjunctivitis (AIC) and a control group with healthy eyes. We also compare the observed signs and symptoms of conjunctival infection in patients with newly diagnosed AIC and their sexual partners. We performed a prospective comparative case-control study between patients with newly diagnosed AIC confirmed with direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) (n = 11), their sexual partners (n = 11), and a control group of healthy subjects (n = 11). Clinical history, physical examination, and a DFA test for C. trachomatis of a conjunctival scrapping from the tarsal conjunctiva were performed in all patients. A significantly higher frequency of positive DFA tests for C. trachomatis was observed in the sexual partner group (n = 8, 73 %) compared with the healthy control group (n = 2, 18.2 %) (P = 0.03). Ocular symptoms and signs were observed significantly more often in patients from the confirmed clinically active AIC group (n = 11, 100 %) than in their sexual partners (n = 2, 12.5 %). Sexual partners of patients with AIC are at greater risk of having an asymptomatic conjunctival infection with C. trachomatis than healthy subjects. Sexual partners might be considered a bacterial reservoir and a possible source for chlamydia reinfection. Not treating sexual partners might increase the probability of reinfection. More extended studies with a greater sample size should be done.