Evaluation of serological tests for screening of chlamydial eye diseases

Trachoma is recognized as one of most important origins of blindness in developing countries and inclusion conjunctivitis is associated with STD in developed countries. We evaluated the diagnostic value of serological tests for the screening of eye diseases associated with Chlamydia trachomatis infection. We determined serum IgG, IgA and IgM antibodies to C. trachomatis from 53 Japanese patients with active inflammatory trachoma (aged more than 60 years) and from 107 adult patients (aged 20 to 50 years) with acute inclusion conjunctivitis by ELISA test kit. We detected serum IgG antibodies from 22 out of 53 (42.5%) patients with trachoma and from 40 out of 107 (37.4%) patients with acute inclusion conjunctivitis. We also detected serum IgM antibodies from 7 out of 53 (13.2%) patients with trachoma and from 35 out of 107 (32.7%) patients with acute inclusion conjunctivitis. The prevalence of serum IgM antibodies to C. trachomatis in patients with acute inclusion conjunctivitis was significantly higher than that in patients with active trachoma (p < 0.05). Serological tests are also thought to be useful for screening of chlamydial eye diseases.