Are chlamydial infections the most prevalent venereal disease?
J. Schachter, L. Hanna, E. C. Hill, S. Massad, C. W. Sheppard, J. E. Conte Jr, S. N. Cohen and K. F. Meyer
We studied two population groups (more than 1,600 patients) to determine
the prevalence and clinical associations of genital tract infections with
chlamydiae and herpesviruses. Base-line isolation rates for asymptomatic
women having routine pelvic examinations were much lower than rates for
symptomatic women. In both groups, chlamydiae were more prevalent than
herpesviruses. Chlamydial infection was associated much more commonly with
cervicitis (36.6%) than with vaginitis only (4.1%). Among 282 symptomatic
men, the cultures of 19.9% yielded chlamydiae, and 4.3%, herpesviruses.
Chlamydiae were recovered from 35.5% (27 of 76) of specimens from men with
nongonococcal urethritis, and from an even larger proportion, 57% (24 of
42), of the specimens from men with frank discharge.
