Chlamydial infection in Saudi infertile patients

ABSTRACT

In the Andrology and Infertility Clinic at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, we tested sixty five specimens of thirty four male and thirty one female patients. The male patients were clinically suspected of having chlamydial infection. All the thirty one female patients had undergone a laparoscopy for evaluation of their tubal factor. A direct test using fluorescein labelled monoclonal antibodies was used for the identification of chiamydial elementry bodies in direct smears of swabs from the endocervix in female patients and from the urethra in male patients. Nine females [29%] and nine males [26.4%] were found to be positive in the endocervical and urethral specimens respectively. When we compared the results of the laparoscopic findings, the nine patients who had positive tests for chlamydia, and the twenty-two patients who had negative tests, we found that seven out of nine and six out of twenty-two patients had tubal disease, with a statistically significant difference [p < 0.005]