Serovars of Chlamydia trachomatis causing postabortion salpingitis

In a previously reported investigation, 69 women with genital chlamydial infection following legal abortion were studied prospectively. Ten cases of postabortion salpingitis and 16 cases of endometritis were identified. To ascertain whether some serovars of Chlamydia trachomatis are particularly likely to initiate an infection in the fallopian tubes and cause salpingitis, the chlamydial isolates from the patients with salpingitis and those isolates from cases free of infectious complications were serotyped using a panel of monoclonal antibodies. Six of the seven different serovars demonstrated in the symptom-free group were identified in salpingitis cases. The strains associated with salpingitis seemed to reflect the overall distribution of chlamydial serovars in the entire study group. The predominant serovars were E, F and H. A protective effect associated with chlamydial serum antibodies had previously been observed in salpingitis cases. Therefore, the antibody titres subdivided according to serovar were compared. No difference in the antibody response induced by the different serovars could be verified statistically, but the B-complex strains were associated with a higher antibody titre than the C-complex strains or the intermediate strains F and G.