CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF GENITAL-INFECTION DUE TO CHLAMYDIA-TRACHOMATIS IN WOMEN - DIFFERENCES RELATED TO SEROVAR

The relationship between the infecting Chlamydia trachomatis serovar a nd the clinical manifestations of genital tract infection was evaluate d in a study of 155 women attending a sexually transmitted diseases cl inic; 99 women had lower genital tract infection and 56 had Chlamydia- associated pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). In the group with lower genital tract infection, women with serovar F differed from those with serovars of class B or C in that they exhibited fewer signs of cervic al infection, including easily induced bleeding (P = .04), edema of th e zone of cervical ectopy (P = .06), and colposcopic evidence of mucop urulent endocervical discharge (P = .007). Serovar F also produced few er infections with inclusion counts of greater than or equal to 1,000 and fewer rectal infections (P = .04). There was no apparent associati on of any specific serovar with PID. Thus, in this population, serovar F was associated with fewer objective clinical manifestations of muco purulent endocervical discharge, and the distribution of chlamydial se rovars found in PID reflected that found in lower genital tract infect ion.