A Study On Methodologies And Clinical Significance Of Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Of Chlamydia Trachomatis

Genital infection with Chlamydia trachomatis is highly prevalent in most areas of the world. The regimen for chlamydial infection has been well established in the treatment guidelines of CDC for sexually transmitted disease, however, the cure rates are controvertible. The association between recurrence and antibiotic resistance has been reported by several researchers. In China the data was very limited about antimicrobial resistance of chlamydia. To obtain the in vitro effects of commonly used antibiotics on chlamyidial strains in our region, we developed three methods to examine the in vitro effects of antibiotics against the reference strains of C.trachomatis. Also, the in vitro effects of six commonly used antibiotics against clinical strains of C.trachomatis isolated from our STD clinic were detected by microdilution-plate culture with immunofluorescence staining.Additionally, patients with genital chlamydial infection are often coinfected with Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The cost for examination of chlamydial infection is very high but that for treatment of the infection is relatively low. Therefore, CDC recommends that treatment of gonococcal infection should be accompanied by treatment for genital chlamydial infection unless the latter infection is excluded. Although the cost-effectiveness of this dual therapy has been evaluated, little is known about the in vitro effects of interactions between the drugs used. We investigated the in vitro effects of spectinomycin and ceftriaxone, which are commonly used in the treatment of gonococcal infection, alone and in combination with erythromycin, ofloxacin or doxycycline respectively against C. trachomatis by a microdilution checkerboard assay.The full text is divided into three chapters listed as follows:Chapter I The development of methods for antimicrobial susceptibility testing on Chlamydia trachomatisTo develop three methods for antimicrobial susceptibility testing on Chlamydia trachomatis, microdilution plate culture was used with iodine staining, immunofluorescence staining and RT-PCR. The in vitro susceptibilities of six antibiotics were evaluated against two reference strains of C. trachomatis, E and L3. All the factors,...