Molecular Screening for Chlamydia trachomatis among Pregnant Women Attending Ante-Natal Clinics in Kaduna Metropolis, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Background: Chlamydia trachomatis infection causes pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility and in pregnant women, it is associated with ectopic pregnancy and abortion. One of the key factors in the prevention of C. trachomatis infection is the availability of specific laboratory diagnostics with high sensitivity. For economic reasons, serology is the method routinely used for detection of the bacteria in clinical settings in Nigeria. This study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of infection with Chlamydia trachomatis among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in Hospitals within Kaduna metropolis using serological and molecular techniques. Method: A cross-sectional study design was implemented in this study. The study recruited 200 pregnant women. Serology was carried out by ELISA technique to detect chlamydia antibody in the sera of subjects. For molecular technique, Bacterial DNA was isolated from ten sera samples that showed positive results with ELISA and the omp1 gene of Chlamydia trachomatis was amplified with specific primers using conventional PCR. Results: Of the 200 sera samples tested for C. trachomatis by ELISA, 19 (9.5%) samples gave positive results, while only 4 of the 10 samples tested by PCR returned positive for C. trachomatis. Conclusion: This data suggests that PCR method is much more specific compared to the serological approach routinely used in diagnosis of the disease, thereby recommending that nucleic acid testing should be incorporated into the diagnosis of this pathogen in clinics and hospitals in developing countries like Nigeria.