Detection Of Chlamydia Trachomatis Infection in Infertile Females & Fertile Females at A Tertiary Care Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan

Objective: To detect anti-chlamydial antibodies in infertile & fertile females of reproductive age. Methods: A case-control study was conducted in the Department of Microbiology, Medical University, Hospital, Lahore, from January 2021 to August 2022. A total of 154 patients from Hospital, Lahore, satisfying the inclusion criteria (cases) and exclusion criteria (control) were registered in the study. Informed consent was obtained, and demographic data and detailed patient history were recorded with the help of a questionnaire. After aseptic measures, 5 ml of venous blood was drawn for detection of chlamydial antibodies (IgG) using ELISA. Samples were labelled with the patient name and ID.Samples were centrifuged in batches for 15 minutes at 3000 rpm. The serum was then separatedand preserved in serum cups at -20 C for further processing with ELISA.Results: Results showed that infertile women had significantly higher frequency for positive antichlamydial antibodies as compared to fertile women. Of the total 77 fertile females, chlamydia infection was detected in 8(10.4%) of females while among infertile females, 45(58.4%) females had chlamydia infection with a statistically significant difference between the groups with p-value <0.001. The importance of screening is depicted by the higher prevalence rate of IgG antibodies against Chlamydia trachomatis in females of reproductive age.Conclusion: Results in this study showed a high frequency of Chlamydia trachomatis infection among infertile women. i.e. (58.4%) as compared to fertile women. (10.4%). So, women with infertility should be screened for Chlamydia trachomatis for early treatment. There should be surveillance programs and interventions to help in screening Chlamydia trachomatis among infertile couples.