Chlamydia trachomatis Infections during Pregnancy: Consequences for pregnancy outcome and infants

Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection (STI) worldwide. Chlamydia is responsible for a significant proportion of genitourinary tract infections in adult males and females, but like STIs in general, it is primarily a woman’s health care issue since the manifestations and consequences are more damaging to the reproductive health of women than of men. Acute C. trachomatis infection is easy to treat, but the majority of chlamydial infections remain asymptomatic and untreated, and may lead to serious complications such as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), ectopic pregnancy, infertility and chronic pelvic pain in women, as well as conjunctivitis and respiratory tract infection in infants. The health-economic impact of C. trachomatis infections may therefore be enormous. Vaccines are not yet available. Hence, health gain and financial benefits can only be achieved by active case finding and treatment of C. trachomatis infection, which can be done on an individual level or nationwide in a screening program.

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