Prevalência e variabilidade genotípica de Chlamydia trachomatis em amostras cervicais de estudantes universitárias em Belém, Pará, Brasil

Abstract

Infection with Chlamydia trachomatis is a Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) more prevalent bacterial in the world and can be asymptomatic in up to 80% of cases and is associated with late complications. The university students are part of a differentiated demand of the population for their high level of education. Objective was to assess the prevalence and variability of the genotypes of C. trachomatis in cervical infection of public university students in the state of Pará, Brazil, and to evaluate the association of the respective socio-behavioral characteristics and gynecological complaints. They included 438 college students from September 2012 to October 2014 and cervical samples were obtained during gynecological examination. It was performed phenol-chloroform technique for extracting total DNA from the sample cervical secretion, and for the detection of C. trachomatis used the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) PCR-seminested the type for amplification 224pb gene omp1. For the identification of genotypes, we carried out a nested PCR for the amplification of the gene omp1 990pb, which was purified and subjected to ABI3130 sequencer, then the nucleotide sequences were compared with GenBank. The prevalence of cervical infection by C. trachomatis was 12.5% (CI: 95% ± 5.89) and genotypes were identified J genotype (36.3%), followed by D genotypes (18.2%) E (18.2%), F (18.2%) and la (9.1%). There was no significant association for age, first sexual intercourse, number of partners, and condoms are used, the presence of gynecological complaints and genotypes found in the study population. Although the prevalence found present itself high among university students, the lack of statistical significance may be due to small sample size and/or result in socially acceptable answers. Efforts are made to trace the expansion of C. trachomatis infection in restricted populations.