Follicular conjunctivitis due to Chlamydia trachomatis.

During two years (1997-1999) an investigation of possible infections of chl amydial etiology in outpatients with follicular conjunctivitis was carried out, through the use of specific assays. Fifty seven selected patients with presumptive inclusion conjunctivitis were diagnosed by means of ophtalmosc opic examination and bilateral tarsal-conjunctiva swabbing for microorganis ms. The possible presence of Chlamydia trachomatis was tested by immunofluo rescence microscopy and isolation in cell culture of McCoy line. Of the 57 conjunctivitis patients screened, 37 (65%) proved to be positive by cell cu lture (CC) and 27 (47%) by direct immunofluorescence (IFD). A good agreemen t between the two assays was observed, where the CC was more sensitive than IFD. Of these 37 patients with chlamydial conjunctivitis, 23 (62%) were wo men, with over one-third of them ranging in age from 45 to 65 years. Their clinical records revealed an evolution period of 1 to 12 months. Eighteen ( 78%) of these women reported previous genital pathology, while 4 (29%) of t he 14 men had a history of urethritis by Chlamydia trachomatis. A high freq uency of follicular conjunctivitis by Chlamydia (65%) in the screened patie nts was observed, without any evidence of urogenital signs and symptoms at the moment of the study.