Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

    Background & Aim: Chlamydia trachomatis is one of the most prevalent causative agents of sexually transmitted diseases. It causes a variety of genital tract complications such as urethritis, cervicitis, endometritis, epididymitis and lymphogranuloma venereum. The prevalence rate of chlamydia induced cervicitis varies in different societies. In a recent study, the prevalnce of chlamydia cervicitis in sexually active American women was in the range of 5-15% and in pregnant women was 1.2%. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of different detection techniques, such as ELISA, MIF, DIMA rapid test and direct microscopy after Gimenez staining. Patients and Methods: A total 137 women with cervicitis(diagnosed according to stablished gynecological protocols) who referred to Rasool Akram hospital and Nilo private clincial laboratory were admitted for this study. Two endocervical swabs were obtained. One of them was used for the rapid Dima test and the other swab was subjected to Gimenez staining. Blood samples were also obtained for serological tests. Results: ELISA tests indicated that 18 patients had positive IgG antibody levels in their blood and 4 of them had IgM antibodies against Chlamydia trachomatis. Ten patients had significant IgG levels and 3 of them had anti-Chlamydia IgM according to the MIF test results. Dima rapid detection test was able to show positive results for only 5 patients. We were not able to detect any Chlamydia inclusion bodies with direct microscopy after Gimenez staining. Conclusion: According to the results obtained with MIF technique which is generally considered to be the "Gold standard" serological detection method, the prevalence of chlamydia induced cervicitis was shown to be 7.2%. There was no statistically significant difference in IgM titers detected by ELISA and MIF methods. But there was statistically different IgG titer rates between ELISA and MIF techniques. Therefore, it is suggested that any ELISA positive IgG titer samples to be rechecked and reconfirmed by MIF method. Due to the lack of chlamydia inclusion body detection by direct microscopy, Gimenez staining is not recommended as a diagnostic tool.