Abstract
The distribution of Chlamydia trachomatis serovars among 157 heterosexual male patients with urethritis and the presence of coinfections with other sexually transmitted infections were studied. One hundred seventeen (74.5%) patients, with a mean age of 33.7 years, were Italians, whereas 40 (25.5%) were immigrants coming from eastern European countries, Africa, and South America. All the immigrants and 82 (70.0%) Italian patients reported sex with prostitutes. Out of 157 patients, 73 (46.5%) were found positive for C. trachomatis in urethral secretions and eight different C. trachomatis serovars were identified. The most common serovars were E (n = 18; 24.7%), D (n = 15; 20.5%), G (n = 14;19.2%), and F (n = 12; 16.4%). The sequencing data showed a high degree of conservation of the omp1 gene. Thirty-six (46.7%) out of the 73 C. trachomatis-positive patients were coinfected with another sexually transmitted infection. The most common coinfection was gonorrhoea detected in 22 (30.1%) patients, followed by condyloma in eight (8.2%) patients, syphilis in five (6.8%), and HIV in three (4.1%).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Gerbase AC, Rowley JT, Mertens TE (1998) Global epidemiology of sexually transmitted diseases. Lancet 351(Suppl 3):2–4 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(98)90001-0
Bandea CI, Debattista J, Joseph K, Igietseme J, Timms P, Black CM (2008) Chlamydia trachomatis serovars among strains isolated from members of rural indigenous communities and urban populations in Australia. J Clin Microbiol 46:355–356 doi:10.1128/JCM.01493-07
Hsu MC, Tsai PY, Chen KT, Li LH, Chiang CC, Tsai JJ, Ke LY, Chen HY, Li SY (2006) Genotyping of Chlamydia trachomatis from clinical specimens in Taiwan. J Med Microbiol 55:301–308 doi:10.1099/jmm.0.46262-0
Lysén M, Osterlund A, Rubin CJ, Persson T, Persson I, Herrmann B (2004) Characterization of ompA genotypes by sequence analysis of DNA from all detected cases of Chlamydia trachomatis infections during 1 year of contact tracing in a Swedish county. J Clin Microbiol 42:1641–1647 doi:10.1128/JCM.42.4.1641-1647.2004
Gao X, Chen X-S, Yin Y-P, Zhong M-Y, Shi M-Q, Wei W-H, Chen Q, Peeling RW, Mebey D (2007) Distribution study of Chlamydia trachomatis serovars among high-risk women in China performed using PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism genotyping. J Clin Microbiol 45:1185–1189 doi:10.1128/JCM.02076-06
Geisler WM, Whittington WL, Suchland RJ, Stamm WE (2002) Epidemiology of anorectal chlamydial and gonococcal infections among men having sex with men in Seattle: utilizing serovar and auxotype strain typing. Sex Transm Dis 29:189–195 doi:10.1097/00007435-200204000-00001
Klint M, Lofdahl M, Ek C, Airell A, Berglund T, Herrmann B (2006) Lymphogranuloma venereum prevalence in Sweden among men who have sex with men and characterization of Chlamydia trachomatis ompA genotypes. J Clin Microbiol 44:4066–4071 doi:10.1128/JCM.00574-06
Lister NA, Tabrizi SN, Fairley CK, Smith A, Janssen PH, Garland S (2004) Variability of the Chlamydia trachomatis omp1 gene detected in samples from men tested in male-only saunas in Melbourne, Australia. J Clin Microbiol 42:2596–2601 doi:10.1128/JCM.42.6.2596-2601.2004
Waalboer R, van der Snoek EM, van der Meijden WI, Mulder PGH, Ossewaarde JM (2006) Analysis of rectal Chlamydia trachomatis serovar distribution including L2 (lymphogranuloma venereum) at the Erasmus MC STI clinic, Rotterdam. Sex Transm Infect 82:207–211 doi:10.1136/sti.2005.018580
Storni E, Donati M, Marangoni A, Accardo S, Cevenini R (2006) Comparative PCR-based restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the plasmid gene orf3 of Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydia psittaci. FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol 48:313–318 doi:10.1111/j.1574-695X.2006.00149.x
Sambri V, Marangoni A, Eyer C, Reichhuber C, Soutschek E, Negosanti M, D’Antuono A, Cevenini R (2001) Western immunoblotting with five Treponema pallidum recombinant antigens for serologic diagnosis of syphilis. Clin Diagn Lab Immunol 8:534–539 doi:10.1128/CDLI.8.3.534-539.2001
Lan J, Walboomers JJM, Roosendaal R, Van Doornum GJJ, MacLaren DM, Meijer CJLM, Van Den Brule AJC (1993) Direct detection and genotyping of Chlamydia trachomatis in cervical scrapes by using polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. J Clin Microbiol 31:1060–1065
Tait IA, Hart CA (2002) Chlamydia trachomatis in non-gonococcal urethritis patients and their heterosexual partners: routine testing by polymerase chain reaction. Sex Transm Infect 78:286–288 doi:10.1136/sti.78.4.286
Norris SJ, Larsen SA (1995) Treponema and other host-associated spirochetes. In: Murray PR, Baron EJ, Pfaller MA, Tenover FC, Yolken RH (eds) Manual of clinical microbiology, 6th edn. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC, pp 636–651
Jurstrand M, Falk L, Fredlund H, Lindberg M, Olcen P, Anderson S, Persson K, Albert J, Backman A (2001) Characterization of Chlamydia trachomatis omp1 genotypes among sexually transmitted disease patients in Sweden. J Clin Microbiol 39:3915–3919 doi:10.1128/JCM.39.11.3915-3919.2001
Ngandjio A, Clerc M, Fonikous MC, Thonnon J, Lunel F, Bebear C, Bianchi A, De Barbeyrac B (2004) Restriction endonuclease patterns of the omp1 gene of reference Chlamydia trachomatis strains and characterization of isolates from Cameroonian students. J Med Microbiol 53:47–50 doi:10.1099/jmm.0.05333-0
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Donati, M., Di Francesco, A., D’Antuono, A. et al. Chlamydia trachomatis serovar distribution and other concurrent sexually transmitted infections in heterosexual men with urethritis in Italy. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 28, 523–526 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-008-0650-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-008-0650-z