Prevalence and risk of chlamydia trachomatis in symptomatic patients attending clinics in South West Nigeria

Background: Despite the wide range of disease sequelae caused by Chlamydia trachomatis they are still not screened for in Nigerian routine hospitals with paucity of information on relative frequencies and possible risk exposure. Methods and Findings: This study evaluates the risk exposure of individuals coming up with related symptoms using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) with Human Chlamydia IgM. A total of 699 individuals were screened of which 91.2% were positive for Chlamydia trachomatis IgM Age group 21-30 years had the highest prevalence which was followed by 11-20 years. Sociodemographic characteristics show that Chlamydia trachomatis infection is associated with age, high sexual activity, multiple sex partners, low socioeconomic status, unprotected sex and sex orientation. Males and females had equal chances of contacting the infection. Conclusion: Screening of individuals in routine clinical environment should be made a policy especially with related symptoms and should be followed by education of the population on the risk as well as increased education on sexually transmitted infections.

Author(s): Lawrence Ehis Okoror, Cyril Otoikhian, Deborah Folashade Omoniyi, Eniolorunda Tolulope

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