High prevalence of sexual Chlamydia trachomatis infection in young women from Marajó Island, in the Brazilian Amazon

Chlamydia trachomatis is the most prevalent bacterial sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the world. Approximately 80% of infected women are asymptomatic, although this infection can lead to serious complications in the female reproductive tract. Few data on Chlamydia infection are available in...

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Published inPloS one Vol. 13; no. 11; p. e0207853
Main Authors dos Santos, Leonardo Miranda, Vieira, Maria Renata Mendonça dos Santos, Oliveira, Jéssica Fernanda Galdino, Trindade, Josinaide Quaresma, Brasiliense, Danielle Murici, Ferrari, Stephen Francis, Tsutsumi, Mihoko Yamamoto, Fuzii, Hellen Thais, Sousa Junior, Edivaldo Costa, Ishikawa, Edna Aoba Yassui, Ishak, Ricardo, de Sousa, Maísa Silva
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Public Library of Science 29.11.2018
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
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ISSN1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI10.1371/journal.pone.0207853

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Summary:Chlamydia trachomatis is the most prevalent bacterial sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the world. Approximately 80% of infected women are asymptomatic, although this infection can lead to serious complications in the female reproductive tract. Few data on Chlamydia infection are available in rural Amazonian communities. To evaluate the prevalence of sexual C. trachomatis infection in women from Marajó Archipelago communities in the Amazon region of Brazil and to identify associated factors and genotypes. We utilized amplification of the ompA gene by nested PCR. Positive samples were genotyped by sequencing. Study participants completed a questionnaire on social, epidemiological, and reproductive health variables. A Poisson regression was used to evaluate the degree of association of these variables with the infection. The sexual infection by C. trachomatis was observed in 4% (16/393) of the subjects, and was more often found in women aged ≤25 (14.3%; 95% CI = 2.83-35.47; p <0.001), and in women with a household income of less than one Brazilian monthly minimum wage (5.2%; 95% CI = 1.33-11.37; p = 0.014). The ompA gene was sequenced in 13 samples, revealing F genotypes (38.4%, n = 5), D (23%, n = 3), E (15.3%, n = 2), Ia (7.6%, N = 1), J (7.6%, n = 1) and B (7.6%, n = 1). We recorded a high prevalence of sexual infection by C. trachomatis in young and poor women from the interior of the Brazilian Amazon. This high prevalence and the frequencies of the main genotypes were similar to those found in major Brazilian urban centers. Our results reinforce the importance of the screening of this neglected infection, and the prevention of later sequelae in young women from rural and urban areas of Brazil.
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Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
These authors also contributed equally to this work.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0207853