American Journal of Medicine and Medical Sciences 2013, 3(6): 121-125 DOI: 10.5923/j.ajmms.20130306.01 Serological Detection of Chlamydia trachomatis among Pregnant Women in Khartoum State Eltayib Hassan Ahmad-Abakur * , Mohammed Omer Ali Abdalla, Mohammed Ahmed I Huli, Tarig Mohammed Saad Alnour Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology,Faculty of Medical Laboratory Science,AlzaiemAlazhari University,P.O. Box 1432, Khartoum Bahri 13311, Sudan Abstract Objective: C.trachomatis infection influences the pregnancy outcomes leading to premature rupture of membranes, prematurity, low birth weight and prenatal mortality. Thepresent study was carried out in Khartoum Educational Hospital and it was aimed to detect the Chlamydia trachomatis and its reproductive factors among Sudanese pregnant. Material and methods: 92 blood samples were collected from pregnant women aged from 17 to 42 years old. The separated sera were subjected to anti-Chlamydia trachomatis (IgG) and anti- Chlamydia trachomatis (IgA) using ELISAtechniques. Questionnaire survey was conducted to collectthe information related to the study such as age, gravidity, education level, history of previous abortion and past genital tract infection. Results: thirteen serum samples (14.1%) were sero-positive for anti-chlamydial IgG and 5 samples (5.4%) were reactive against anti-chlamydial IgA. Statistically, there was no significant relationship between the presences of immunoglobulin IgG or IgA of Chlamydia trachomatis and age of pregnant woman with P value 0.641 and P 0.803 respectively. Most of participated pregnant women completed their primary 33(35.9%) or secondary 36 (39.1%) school education, although there was no relation between Chlamydia trachomatis infection and the education level {(P=0.562 for IgG) and (P =0.930 for IgA}. The results revealed statistically a significant relationship between immunoglobulin IgG and previous abortion with P value 0.016 whereas the presence of IgA showed insignificant relations with the previous abortion (P=0.325). The gravidity and past genital tract infection did not affected the Chlamydia trachomatis infection{(P=0.99 and P=0.617 for IgG respectively) and (P =0.261 and 0.717 for IgA respectively}. Conclusions: the present study revealed significant relation between C. trachomatis IgG antibody and previous abortion. Keywords Ch la mydia trachomatis, Gravidity, Previous Abortion and Past Genital tract Infection 1. Introduction The global annual incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), excluding HIV and viral hepatitis is 333 million cases, of which Chlamydia infections represent 89 million cases“more than 26 %”[1]. There are at least 18 serovars of C.trachomatis; the med ical important serovars associated with endemic trachoma are A, B, Ba, and C while D-K serovars are associated with sexually transmitted disease and that cause lymphogranuloma venereum are L1, L2, and L3[2]. Genital infection with C. trachomatis is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection worldwide, with most women being unaware that they are infected[3], the amount of costs related treatment of chlamydial infection complications considered costly second only to HIV[3]. * Corresponding author: eltayib1974@yahoo.com (Eltayib Hassan Ahmad-Abakur) Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/ajmms Copyright © 2013 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved In women, C.trachomatis causes non-specific urethritis, cervicitis, endometritis and salpingitis. Infection is confined to epithelial surfaces but an immune-mediated host response can cause severe inflammations to the tissues, especially after repeated episodes. The most serious complication Chlamydial upper genital tract infections in women are infertility and ectopic pregnancy which result from damage to the fallopian tubes[4], repeated or chronic chlamydial infection can cause severe immunologically- mediated chronic inflammation, which is the basis of the disease such as blinding trachoma and chronic salpingitis causing infertility. Typically there an exaggerated inflammatory response but Chlamydiae could be isolated in very small numbers. In contrast asymptomatic genital infection may be associated with prolonged shedding of large numbers of Chlamydiae with minimal inflammatory response[4]. However, C.trachomatis infection influences the pregnancy outcomes leading to premature rupture of membranes, prematurity, low birth weight and prenatal mortality[5,6]. The prevalence of C. trachomatis among pregnant women were (25.7%) in Brazil[7], 19% in India[8], 10.5% in Saudi