Is it True that Chlamydia is Widespread in Young Pregnant Women?

Posted on May 25th, 2008 by olga

Approximately 1 in 7 young pregnant women studied by Australian researchers had Chlamydia trachomatis infection, a widespread sexually transmitted infection that oftentimes does not cause indications.

Researcher Kate Cheney told Reuters Health “High rates of asymptomatic Chlamydia infections in pregnant women under 20 underscore the importance of incorporating testing for Chlamydia into antenatal (before birth) screening programs”.

Ms. Cheney of the Royal Prince Albert Hospital, Sydney and Dr. Lynne Wray of Sydney Hospital analyzed the medical documentations of 365 young pregnant women, 212 of whom were examined for Chlamydia at the same time as attending an antenatal clinic.

Twenty-nine women (13.7 percent) had a positive test for genital Chlamydia infection, the researchers report in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. That contrasts with a rate of 9.4 percent for women of all ages attending the same antenatal clinic.

Ms. Cheney added “Genital Chlamydia can have unpleasant impacts on pregnancy, leading to hazard of premature labor, for example.” If undiagnosed, she pointed, it can “put the newborn in danger for conjunctivitis and pneumonia.”

She concluded “Testing is easy and treatment is highly successful with a single dose of antibiotics.”

The investigators say that additional examination is required to find out the appropriate time of testing, and possibly repeat testing, in young pregnant women.