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New study suggests STD chlamydia frequently exchanges DNA to new strains

The bacteria that cause Chlamydia Treatment, the world's most common sexually transmitted disease, seems to be sneakier than once thought, as a new study suggests it frequently exchanges DNA between different strains to form entirely new strains.

Chlaymydia is caused by the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis, and though its symptoms are often mild, the sexually transmitted disease can cause infertility in women and a discharge from the penis of an infected man. Chlamydia is the most common bacterial STD in the world, including in the U.S. where more than 1.3 million cases were reported in 2010. About 100 million cases of chlamydia are reported each year across the globe.

Scientists know there are two groups of Chlamydia Cure, one that seems to infect the eyes and urinary-genital areas, and another set known to spread through the lymphatic system, which is important to the body's immune system. Currently, an epidemic of the lymphatic types is progressing in Europe and North America, particularly in men who have sex with men, the researchers note online on March 11 in the journal Nature Genetics.

However, little is known about how these different strains evolve and emerge.

"Scientists recently discovered that if two chlamydia strains co-infect the same person at the same time, they can swap DNA by a process called recombination," lead researcher Dr. Simon Harris, from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, said in a statement.

To find out how widespread this swapping is, Harris and colleagues compared the genome sequences of 53 strains of C. trachomatis, which were isolated from epidemics that occurred between 1959 and 2009; the strains were meant to represent the diversity of chlamydia seen in clinical settings. Results showed that even when the Chlamydia strains had infected different parts of the body, they could still swap DNA with each other, leading to new strains.

Recombination "was originally thought only to affect a few 'hotspots' within the genome," Harris said. "We were very surprised to find recombination is far more widespread than previously thought."

The results have implications for how the STD is diagnosed. Currently, doctors use a test that returns a positive or negative for chlamydia infections, without any information on the particular strain. That means doctors can't tell, say, if a person who tests positive again after being treated with antibiotics has picked up a second strain of chlamydia or if their treatment has failed.

While antibiotic-resistant chlamydia has not been seen in patients, it does occur in the lab. If it did occur in the general population, current tests would not detect it.

"Until now a person treated with antibiotics with a reoccurring infection of C. trachomatis was assumed to have been re-infected," study researcher Dr. Nicholas Thomson, also of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, said in a statement. "The current gaps in our understanding of the population makeup of chlamydia limit our ability to implement health policies, because we do not fully understand how chlamydia spreads within our population."

The scientists are now working with hospitals to bring technologies for whole-genome sequencing into clinical settings.

The STD chlamydia is on the rise in Michigan

The sexually transmitted disease Chlamydia Treatment is on the rise in Michigan, and Livingston County is no exception.

The county has seen a 72 percent increase in the number of cases of chlamydia since 2008, according to the Livingston County Department of Public Health.

There were 297 residents diagnosed with chlamydia in 2012, which are the latest figures available. There were 173 cases in 2008.

Ted Westmeier, director of the Livingston County Department of Public Health, said unprotected sex is the primary reason for the increase.

“Many people do not have symptoms of the disease but carry it,” Westmeier said.

Chlamydia Cure can be spread during vaginal, anal or oral sex. It also can be passed from an infected mother to her unborn child during vaginal birth.

Although symptoms usually occur in one to three weeks, 74 percent of infected females and 50 percent of infected males show no symptoms.

Female symptoms include abnormal vaginal discharge, burning with urination, lower abdominal pain. Male symptoms include discharge from the penis, burning with urination, pain in the testicles or the abdomen.

If left untreated, chlamydia can cause ectopic pregnancy, infertility and pelvic inflammatory disease.

The disease can be treated with antibiotics.

Westmeier said the increase of chlamydia cases in Livingston is a trend occurring across Michigan.

“We’re not different,” he said.

Besides using protection during sex, Westmeier said residents should get regular exams. This is strongly recommended for people who have more than one sex partner and have unprotected sex.

As required by law, chlamydia is one of roughly 100 diseases that all doctors or labs must report when it’s diagnosed.

“It’s really a basic public health program,” Westmeier said. “We are concerned about the care of the individual and the care of the community.”

Chlamydia and gonorrhoea infections linked to pregnancy complications

Becoming infected with Chlamydia Treatment or gonorrhoea in the lead-up to, or during, pregnancy, increases the risk of complications, such as stillbirth or unplanned premature birth, indicates research published online in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.

The researchers analysed the birth records of more than 350,000 women who had had their first baby between 1999 and 2008 in New South Wales, Australia's most heavily populated state.

The researchers wanted to find out if infection with either chlamydia or gonorrhoea in the lead-up to, or during, pregnancy, had any impact on the baby or the birth itself, as there is continuing debate about whether these infections can increase the risk of complications.

The women's birth records were linked back to state records about notifiable conditions, such as Chlamydia Cure and gonorrhoea.

Among the 354,217 women who had had their first child between 1999 and 2008, 3658 (1%) had had at least one notifiable chlamydia infection before the birth. And most (81%) of these had been diagnosed before the estimated date of conception.

Just 196 (0.6%) had been diagnosed with gonorrhoea before the birth, with most diagnoses (just under 85%) made before the estimated conception date.
Half of those diagnosed with gonorrhoea had also previously been infected with chlamydia.

In all, 4% of the women had an unplanned premature birth; 12% had babies who were small for dates; and 0.6% (2234) of the babies were stillborn.

Factors such as age, social disadvantage, smoking, and underlying conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, can all increase the risk of birth complications, and this was evident among the women studied.

But even after taking account of all these influential factors, women who had had a prior infection with either chlamydia or gonorrhoea were still at heightened risk.

Women who had had chlamydia were not at increased risk of giving birth to a small for dates baby. But they were 17% more likely to have an unplanned premature birth and 40% more likely to have a stillborn baby.

Women who had had gonorrhoea were more than twice as likely to have an unplanned premature birth, but they were not at increased risk of giving birth to a small for dates baby.

There were too few women with a previous diagnosis of gonorrhoea to be able to assess the impact of the infection to stillbirth.

For women previously diagnosed with chlamydia, the risk of an unplanned premature birth did not differ between those diagnosed more than a year before conception, within a year of conception, or during the pregnancy.
The authors caution that their findings don't allow them to prove cause and effect. The infections may simply be a marker for women at high risk of birth complications.

And while there is some evidence to suggest that chronic inflammation?such as would arise particularly with chlamydia infection?can trigger an unplanned premature birth, trials of prophylactic antibiotics given to women during pregnancy, have not lowered this risk.

Nevertheless, the authors conclude: "Our results suggest that sexually transmissible infections in pregnancy and the preconception period may be important in predicting adverse obstetric outcomes."

The patient with mycoplasma infection prostatitis for 11 years was cured with TCM

Name: Mr Tang
Gender: Male
Age: 45 years old
Chief statement: Repeated frequency, urgency and perineal pain for 11 years.
Auxiliary examinations: mycoplasma culture: positive; prostate fluid routine: WBC +++, lecithin + +

Medical history: Mr. Tang had urinary frequency and urgency with no obvious incentive, so he went to the local hospital clinic for treatment. The examination results showed that he has mycoplasma positive, and was diagnosed as "mycoplasma infection prostatitis". He take some anti-infective drugs (specific medication and courses are unknown), but the symptoms were no significantly improved. So he had recurrent frequency, urgency and perineal pain, persistent positive mycoplasma for 11 years. And he found Wuhan Dr. Lee’s TCM clinic to take the TCM treatment.

Western diagnosis: Chlamydia Treatment
TCM diagnosis: turbid semen

Consulting time: 2008.11
Treating course: Three-month treatment with diuretic anti-inflammatory pill

2008.12
Urinary frequency and urgency was relieved obviously, but the perineal pain still existed. So he continued taking diuretic and anti-inflammatory pill, and was asked to follow dietary restrictions.

2009.1
The symptoms of frequency, urgency and perineal pain were significantly reduced, and Mr. Tang felt great improved, only had some discomforts sometimes. So he was asked to take another month medicine and review the prostate fluid routine and mycoplasma culture seven days after the drug withdrawal.

2009.2
The symptoms of frequency, urgency and perineal pain was nearly cured. After taking some checkups in local hospital, the mycoplasma culture showed negative and the prostate fluid routine was WBC-, lecithin was + + +. The test results showed he was healed completely. Dr.Lee asked him to pay attention to the diet to avoid the relapse of the disease.

The patient with chlamydia for 3 years has been cured with TCM treatment

Name: Mr. Yin
Gender: Male
Age: 40 years old
Treating time: 2008.11
Chief complaint: The patient has repeated urinary frequency and urgency for 3 years, and the symptoms aggravated a week ago.

Medical history: 3 years ago, Mr.Yin had frequency and urgency with no obvious incentive. Then he went to the local hospital for treatment, found to have chlamydia positive. He was diagnosed as "Chlamydia Treatment," so he took the anti-infective therapy (specific medication and treatment are unknown) to eliminate the symptoms, but failed. Then, during the three years, he had recurrent urinary frequency and urgency symptoms, a sense of the past week symptoms, and these symptoms aggravated a week ago. So he found the Wuhan Dr.Lee's TCM clinic to take the treatment.

Western medicine diagnosis: Chlamydia infection
TCM diagnosis: stranguria syndrome

Auxiliary examination: Chlamydia culture
Treating course: Three-month treatment with diuretic and anti-inflammatory pill

Treating process:

2008.12
The symptoms like frequency and urgency has been relieved, and he felt great improvements during the treatment. Considering the chlamydia is also positive, so he took another month diuretic and anti-inflammatory pill. And Dr.Lee told him to seek help if he felt discomforts.

2009.1
Mr.Yin had no obvious frequency and urgency, only has mild urine discomforts. So he continued to take one month diuretic and anti-inflammatory pill to radically eliminate the symptoms. And Dr. Lee told him to review the chlamydia test after finishing the treatment.

2009.2
Mr. Yin had no obvious urinary frequency and urgency. So he went to the local hospital to review, finding that his chlamydia negative.He was healed with the TCM treatment. and Dr. Lee asked him to pay attention to personal hygiene to avoid re-infection.