Molecular Diagnosis of Genital Chlamydia trachomatis in Women with Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

Frequency of STI infections has a low rate in Muslim and Arabic societies due to injunction and ethics to prevent non-marital sex and sexual promiscuity. In Iraq, there has been very little surveillance program to screen C. trachomatis infection, thus this research aimed to detect frequency of genital chlamydia in female with PID via genetic diagnosis of C. trachomatis by the use of 16S rDNA and 16S-23S rDNA spacer and comparison between them. This study included 232 endocervical swab samples collected from female patients suffering from signs and/or symptoms of PID; and were diagnosed as having PID by the gynecologist and had risk factors for this infection. These swabs were subjected to DNA extraction, and further processing by polymerase chain reaction. Using 16S rRNA and 16S-23S rRNA spacer genes as genetic markers via conventional PCR; both of them gave approximate results 7/232 (3.02%) versus 8/232 (3.45%) respectively. The highest frequency distribution 4/8 (50%) of C. trachomatis among the age group of 20-40 years, while 2/8 (25%) from both age group less than 20 years, and more than 40 years separately. While association with the use of different types of contraceptives; 50% of chlamydial positive patients used oral contraceptive pills during their life. While those using intrauterine contraceptive devices representing 25%, and remaining cases represented 12.5% used barrier methods and 12.5% did not use any type. The study concluded that 16S rRNA and 16S-23S rRNA spacer genes are considered as sensitive and specific methods for the identification of C. trachomatis in women.