Chlamydial infection of the male baboon urethra

Two adult male baboons (Papio cynocephalus) were infected by urethral catheter with a Type D strain of Chlamydia trachomatis isolated from a male patient with nongonococcal urethritis. Chlamydial organisms were shed from the urethra for about 90 days and serum antibody developed. Intraurethral re-inoculation of homologous and heterologous (Type I) strains of Chalmydia, 4 and 11 months later, resulted in relatively shorter periods of infection of less than 15 days. The antibody titres and type-specific patterns were not substantially influenced by re-infection.