Incidence of Chlamydia trachomatis infections in the provinces of Novara and VCO: one year of observations

Chlamydia trachomatis infections represent the most common sexually transmitted diseases.The lack of growth of these microorganisms on common media and the roundabout research by immunofluorescence, has meant that, until now, these special-lived intracellular microorganisms have played a role probably underestimated in cases of infections affecting the sexual organs.The introduction of molecular biology has made possible their research in a much more simple, reliable and standardized methods. The study was carried out on endocervical samples, male urethral swabs and urine samples of men and women, determining the C. trachomatis DNA amplified using the BD ProbeTec ET system. This system uses technology SDA (Strand Displacement Amplification - Elongationcrowding of the blanks). The study was conducted from June 2008 to june 2009. Symptomatic and asyntptomatic patients residents in the provinces of Novara and the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola were considered. In this period 784 determinations were made in molecular biology. Chlamydia trachomatis was found in 26 cases equal to a percentage of 3.32%. While considering these preliminary data, however, we can estimate the rate of detection of C. trachomatis as a good starting point, because we have the impression that improved procedures particularly relate to the techniques for sampling and for storage and transport of the sample, can undoubtedly lead to much higher percentages.