The importance of Chlamydia trachomatis serotypes in its infection: a review

Introduction. Chlamydia trachomatis is mainly transmited by sexusal contact and similar to other STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) affect primarily young and sexually active persons which due to its undesirable effects in pregnancy is of great importance. The aim of this study is review the role of different C. trachomatis serovars and their relaition with infection consequents.
Methods. This study was a review of data collected from scientific databases including Web of science, Google scholar, PubMed, Sciencedirect, ISC and magiran using the following keywords: Chlamydia trachomatis, serovar, STD, prevalence and infertility. After initial search with emphasis on the published English papers over the last 5 years, 66 articles were included.
Results. The distribution of different strains of this intracellular bacterium in different parts of the world can be a suitable clue for planning epidemiologic programs for control of this infection and consequently other STDs. All studies on this subject nearly revealed that E serovar is the dominant serovar in the infection of cervix, vagina and uro-genital system but its prevalence varies between 20 – 50% in different researches.
Conclusion. The distribution of serological groups of C. trachomatis around the wolrd is very similar at national scale but are different between cities. The most prevalent serovars are E, D and F. Various studies have shown the relation of serovars involved in urogenital infections with clinical symptoms severity and the duration of C. trachomatis infection; however contradictory data have been reported.