doi:10.3201/eid2011.140604

Paper Title

Novel Chlamydia trachomatis Strains in Heterosexual Sex Partners, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Authors

James Dennis Fortenberry

Keywords

mlst
chlamydia trachomatis
sexually transmitted infections (sti)
multilocus sequence typing (mlst)
strain typing
sequence types (st)
ompa genotype
heterosexual partnerships
coital partners
phylogenetic relationships
novel recombinant strains
transmission studies
strain diversity
genetic variation
public health
bacterial genotyping
indianapolis indiana
reproductive health
sexual health
microbial epidemiology
infectious disease surveillance
molecular typing
partner transmission
epidemiological studies
sti prevention
bacterial pathogens
diagnostic methods
genomic analysis
novel strains
health disparities
population health

Article Type

Research Article

Journal

Emerging Infectious Diseases

Research Impact Tools

DOI

10.3201/eid2011.140604

Issue

Volume : 20 | Issue : 11 | Page No : 1841–1847

Published On

November, 2014

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Abstract

Chlamydia trachomatis causes a high number of sexually transmitted infections worldwide, but reproducible and precise strain typing to link partners is lacking. We evaluated multilocus sequence typing (MLST) for this purpose by detecting sequence types (STs) concordant for the ompA genotype, a single-locus typing standard. We tested samples collected during April 2000–October 2003 from members of established heterosexual partnerships (dyads) in the Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, area who self-reported being coital partners within the previous 30 days. C. trachomatis DNA from 28 dyads was tested by MLST; sequences were aligned and analyzed for ST and phylogenetic relationships. MLST detected 9 C. trachomatis STs, 4 unique to Indianapolis; STs were identical within each dyad. Thirteen unique strains were identified; 9 (32%) dyads harbored novel recombinant strains that phylogenetically clustered with strains comprising the recombinants. The high rate of novel C. trachomatis recombinants identified supports the use of MLST for transmission and strain diversity studies among at-risk populations.