Diagnosis and treatment of chlamydial venereal disease

We examined patients attending an STD clinic (Department of Dermatology, Lasarettet, Lund). Chlamydia trachomatis was demonstrated in 26% of 2021 male patients by culture from the urethra (using cyclo-heximide-treated McCoy cells). The corresponding figure for Neisseria gonorrhoeae was 15%. Both organisms were found in 5% of the patients. In women, culture from the cervix demonstrated C. trachomatis in 16% of 1039 patients. N. gonorrhoeae was found in 14%, and both organisms in 4% of the patients. Men with chlamydial urethritis were more frequently found to have a watery discharge than those with gonococcal urethritis. They also had fewer leucocytes in smears from the urethra. Treatment with different tetracyclines gives good therapeutic results in both men and women infected with C. trachomatis. In contact-tracing, 53% of 95 male partners and 65% of 103 female partners were found to harbour C. trachomatis. About 50% of these contacts were free of symptoms. This indicates the importance of contact-tracing in genital chlamydial infection.