生殖道沙眼衣原体分子流行病学研究进展

Molecular epidemiological characteristics of genital Chlamydia trachomatis

生殖道沙眼衣原体(Ct)是全球最常见的性病病原体,在很多国家,Ct感染发病率已超过淋球菌感染发病率,位居性病之首。Ct感染可引起男性尿道炎、附睾炎、前列腺炎及不育,女性宫颈炎、子宫内膜炎、盆腔炎、不孕及新生儿结膜炎等多种疾病,并且Ct感染泌尿生殖道后,症状隐匿,易被患者忽视,导致病情迁延、复发或反复感染。此外,Ct感染还可增加人乳头瘤状病毒、艾滋病病毒等性病的感染风险。如何预防控制Ct的传播,已成为全球重要的公共卫生问题。Ct的分子流行病学特征是目前研究的热点,该类研究旨在发现变异菌株、阐明传播动力学、探究菌株型别在不同人群间的分布等,进而为Ct的防控提供分子生物学方面的依据。本文从Ct的流行现状、分子流行病学研究方法及分型在临床的应用等方面进行综述,为Ct的防控及研究提供参考。

Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct) is the causative agent of bacterial sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) worldwide. The incidence of Ct infection has exceeded that of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and becomes the highest in STDs in many countries. Ct infection can lead to urethritis, epididymitis, prostatitis and infertility in males, and cervicitis, endometritis, pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility in females, and neonatal conjunctivitis. Additionally, urogenital Ct infection is always ignored due to its concealed symptoms, leading to a long clinical course, recurrence or repeated infections. Furthermore, Ct infection can increase the risk of human immunodeficiency virus and human papilloma virus infections. Therefore, how to prevent and control the transmission of Ct has become one of the global public health issues. Currently, a growing body of researches have focused on the molecular epidemiological characteristics of Ct, which are aiming to identify the mutant strains, elaborate transmission dynamics, investigate the distribution of Ct serotypes in different populations, so as to provide molecular epidemiological evidence for the prevention and control of Ct infection. This review summarizes the epidemic status and research methods for molecular epidemiological characteristics of Ct, as well as application of Ct serotyping in clinical practice, providing references for the prevention, control and research of Ct infection.