CHLAMYDIA-TRACHOMATIS GENOTYPES - CORRELATION WITH CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF INFECTION AND PATIENTS CHARACTERISTICS

In 1994 Chlamydia trachomatis specimens from 175 men and 135 women att ending a clinic for treatment of sexually transmitted disease were gen otyped by polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism of the omp1 gene. Information about the patients was coll ected at their initial visit. The associations between C. trachomatis genotype and patients' self-reported symptoms, clinical signs, and cha racteristics were studied. Genotypes E, F, and D/D-predominated (men: 71%; women: 60%). Five specimens (1.6%) showed evidence of mixed infec tions, Among men, complaints of urethral discharge and dysuria were mo st commonly associated with genotypes Ii and J (100% vs. 59%-68% for t he other genotypes; P=.03); in addition, greater than or equal to 10 l eukocytes per microscopic field were least often observed for genotype s G/Ga (19% vs. 59%-65% for the other genotypes; P=.01), Women's repor ts of lower abdominal pain were more often associated with F, G group genotypes (32%) than with B-complex (6%) or C-complex (13%) genotypes (P=.02). Certain symptoms of genital C. trachomatis infection were rel ated to the infecting genotype. Further work will be necessary and sho uld involve markers of the host immune response.