Chlamydia TrachomatisChlamydia trachomatis causes chlamydia, the sexually-transmitted disease, and trochoma, an eye infection that often leads to blindness. It is among the very smallest bacteria, only a little larger than a virus. There is currently no vaccine for it.
Infection is generally acquired through sexual contact in adults; in infants, chlamydia is passed in the birth canal, resulting in inclusion conjunctivitis. It may also cause congenital pneumonia, which presents at between four and fifteen weeks with a pertussive cough. Pneumonia that does not respond to antibiotics is usually this form.
Symptoms men may have from chlamydia include urethritis, epididymitis, proctitis, and arthritis. Women's symptoms include cervicitis, urethritis, pelvic inflammatory disease, and arthritis; in some cases, severe infections lead to sterility. Close to half of women's cases of certicitis and sixty percent of pelvic inflammatory disease can probably be blamed on chlamydia trachomatis.
Chlamydia is treated with tetracyclines primarily, but may also be treated with macrolides, sulphonamides, quinolones, and clindamycyn
Web Resources On Chlamydia Trachomatis
STD Facts - Chlamydia
EngenderHealth: Chlamydia
Book Resources On Chlamydia TrachomatisChlamydia Trachomatis by Icon Health Publications
Evolutionary dynamics of Chlamydia trachomatis by Brian William Brunelle
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