EFFECTS OF DOXYCYCLINE AND ANTIINFLAMMATORY AGENTS ON EXPERIMENTALLY-INDUCED CHLAMYDIAL UPPER GENITAL-TRACT INFECTION IN FEMALE MACAQUES

To evaluate the effects of antimicrobial and antiinflammatory drugs on oviductal pathology in chronic chlamydial upper genital tract infecti on, the fallopian tubes of 40 female Macaca nemestrina were inoculated with Chlamydia trachomatis and randomly assigned to treatment with do xycycline (n = 10), doxycycline plus ibuprofen (n = 10), doxycycline p lus triamcinolone (n = 10), or placebo (n = 10). Before therapy, all a nimals were positive for culture or ligase chain reaction (or both), a nd laparoscopy demonstrated the presence of upper genital tract pathol ogy. After therapy, cervical cultures remained positive in 5 animals g iven placebo versus 0 given doxycycline alone (P = .03), 0 given doxyc ycline plus ibuprofen (P = .03), and 1 given doxycycline plus triamcin olone (P = .14). At hysterectomy, neither gross nor histologic patholo gy was affected by any of the treatment regimens, but immunocytochemis try and in situ hybridization evidence of persistent tubal infection w as significantly more frequent among animals given placebo or doxycycl ine plus antiinflammatory agents than among those given doxycycline al one.