15-MONTH FOLLOW-UP-STUDY OF WOMEN INFECTED WITH CHLAMYDIA-TRACHOMATIS

AFTER many years during which they were of interest only to ophthalmologists and ornithologists, chlamydial infections recently have burst into general medical awareness.1 Hardly a month goes by without a report describing an etiologic role for Chlamydia trachomatis in yet another disease. It has now been shown that this interesting intracellular parasite is a cause of nongonococcal urethritis,2 infantile pneumonia,3 pelvic inflammatory disease4 and epididymitis,5 in addition to its long established role in trachoma, lymphogranuloma venereum and inclusion conjunctivitis. Despite the increasingly obvious importance of these organisms, little is known of their prevalence among different population groups or about the. © 1979, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.