Multilocus sequence typing of urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis from patients with different degrees of clinical symptoms.

BACKGROUND In the past, contradictory results have been obtained linking Chlamydia trachomatis serovars (ompA gene) to different clinical courses of infection. METHODS A high resolution multilocus sequence typing (MLST) system was used to genotype 6 genetic regions, including ompA, in 70 Dutch urogenital C. trachomatis strains from patients with different degrees of defined clinical symptoms (asymptomatic, symptomatic, and lower abdominal pain), to determine if MLST genotypes correlated with clinical manifestations of infection. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS We identified 46 MLST types, with only a small overlap to Swedish MLST types. This study found no correlation between MLST profiles and symptomatology. To understand the clinical course of infection, future studies should not only consider bacterial factors but also look on the immunogenetics of the host.