CHLAMYDIA TRACHOMATIS INFECTION IN 100 INFANTS (1984-1989)

During a five-year period from May 1984 to December 1989, 215 children (0-2 years of age) with signs or symptoms of Chlamydia trachomatis (C.t.) infection were studied. Specimens were obtained by conjunctival and pharyngeal scraping. Main aim of our study was to diagnose and to cure the different forms of pediatric C.t. infection. We had also the opportunity to evaluate the different clinical presentations and their age distribution, and to determine whether are rilevant or not the cold season for the respiratory complications and the gestational age and the type of delivery for the newborn. C.t. was identified on the conjunctiva of 45/103 (43.7%) children with conjunctivitis, on the pharynx of 47/124 (37.9%) children with respiratory symptoms, on 8/14 (57.1%) of asymptomatic children born from infected mothers. In 23/45 (51.1%) children with conjunctivitis the C.t. was identified from the pharynx also. Valuable data come from the identification of C.t. in 26/52 (50%) newborns with severe respiratory distress. So in the newborn, expecially if premature, chlamydial infection has a particular clinical presentation, more different from the pertussoid eosinophilic pneumonia of infants between 3-11 weeks of age. The high prevalence rate of C.t. infection in our geographic area and the very serious clinical presentations of chlamydial infection in the premature, suggest screening programs for the newborn at delivery.