Adverse foetal outcome in specific IgM positive Chlamydia trachomatis infection in pregnancy.

A study was undertaken to determine the adverse foetal outcome in antichlamydial IgM positive asymptomatic pregnant females. An indirect immunoperoxidase assay was done to detect IgM in 78 apparently normal asymptomatic pregnant women during the third trimester and follow up was done till delivery to study the effect of chlamydial infection on foetal outcome. A total of 28 (35.9%) women were positive for antichlamydial IgM while only 3.33 per cent asymptomatic non-pregnant normal women (controls) were positive. 28.7 per cent IgM positive mothers delivered low birth weight (LBW) babies (P less than 0.05), 9.7 per cent had premature labour (PTL) and 4.7 per cent had intrauterine death (IUD). The findings are significant as none of the IgM negative mothers had PTL and IUD and only 2.6 per cent had LBW babies.