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Background
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Chlamydia Trachomatis is one of the most common human pathogens. Of the 15 recognized serotypes, 4 (A, B, Ba, and C) have been shown to cause hyperendemic blinding trachoma, a disease which afflicts hundreds of millions of people in developing countries. Three serotypes (L-1, L-2, and L-3) are the causes of lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV), a sexually transmitted systemic disease. The other serotypes (D through K) have been associated with genital tract infections and sporadic cases of conjunctivitis in industrialized societies. These agents are the major recognized cause of nongonococcal urethritis in men, in whom they may also cause epididymitis. In women, C. trachomatis causes cervicitis and has been associated with acute salpingitis. Infants born through an infected birth canal may contract the infection and then develop inclusion conjunctivitis of the newborn and/or the characteristic chlamydial pneumonia syndrome. High levels of anti-Chlamydia IgG antibody are of diagnostic value in chronic or systemic infections such as salpingitis, mechanical infertility, perihepatitis, epididymitis, Reiter’s syndrome and pneumonitis.
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