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. 2019 May 31;14(5):e0217245.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217245. eCollection 2019.

Prevalence, risk factors and molecular characterization of Chlamydia trachomatis in pregnant women from Córdoba, Argentina: A prospective study

Ana Ximena Kiguen  1 , Marcela Marramá  2 , Susana Ruiz  3 , Patricia Estofan  4 , Raúl Fernando Venezuela  1 , Jessica Paola Mosmann  1 , Marina Soledad Monetti  1 , Virginia Rivero  5 , Cecilia Gabriela Cuffini  1
Affiliations

Prevalence, risk factors and molecular characterization of Chlamydia trachomatis in pregnant women from Córdoba, Argentina: A prospective study

Ana Ximena Kiguen et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Chlamydia trachomatis causes the most prevalent bacterial Sexual Transmitted Infection. In pregnant women, untreated chlamydial infections are associated with abortions, premature rupture of membranes, postpartum endometritis, low birth weight and transmission to the newborn. In Córdoba, Argentina, there is little knowledge about the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis in women in their third trimester of pregnancy, so, the aim of this study was to evaluate Chlamydia trachomatis prevalence and genotypes present in Cordovan pregnant women with different age and socioeconomic status.

Methods and findings: Design: prospective study. Settings: Women population from Cordoba city, Argentina. Population: Pregnant women having 35 to 37 weeks of gestation. Methods: Five hundred and nine cervical swabs were collected. Each sample was subjected to DNA extraction and PCR for Chlamydia trachomatis using primers NRO/NLO and CTP1/CTP2. Positives samples were sequenced to determine genotype. Main outcome measures: Demographic data of the patients were collected to detect a population at risk for this infection.

Results: A prevalence of 6.9% (35/509) for Chlamydia trachomatis infection was detected, with 32/295 and 3/214 from pregnant women with low or better economic resources respectively (p = 0,0001). Results showed a significantly increased rate of 11.6% (30/258) in women under 25 years compared with 2% (5/251) in patients over that age (p = 0,00003). Genotype E was the most prevalent.

Conclusions: With these results, we can say that pregnant women under 25 years old and low economic resources are one of the populations in which the screening programs of Chlamydia trachomatis should focus.

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Conflict of interest statement

The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section. Susana Ruiz is an employee of Laboratorios LACE Sociedad Anónima (https://www.laboratoriolace.com.ar/). There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare, and this does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. All other authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Genotype distribution.
The distribution of C. trachomatis genotypes found in pregnant women is shown.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Phylogenetic tree of the OmpA gene of C. trachomatis.
The neighbor-joining method was used in MEGA& to generate phylogenetic trees for ompA from DNA sequences (596bp). Initial nucleotide alignments generated with strains that belong to this study are initiated by CO.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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