1993 Volume 96 Issue 3 Pages 371-378,543
Recently, chlamydial infection patterns have undergone considerable change. Chlamydia trachomatis has, in particular, been described as a major cause of sexually transmitted diseases. Because of the more liberal attitude concerning sexual life-styles and behavior patterns, the oral cavity and pharynx has been increasingly becoming a site of infection for many sexually transmitted diseases.
In the otolaryngeal region, because of oro-genital sexual relations, C. trachomatis infection is presently attracting a great deal of attention. The authors report a case of pharyngitis and cervical lymphadenitis due to C. trachomatis infection contracted from oral sexual activity. Initially, this was suspected to be a case of malignant lymphoma, but histological studies in biopsy specimens of the epipharynx and cervical lymph nodes revealed no malignant cells. Serum antibody titers against mycoplasma and a number of viruses were not elevated while those against C. trachomatis were, based on results of the microplate immunofluorscence antibody technique. C. trachomatis antigen was demonstrated in pharyngeal scrapings by an isolation method and direct immunofluorscence test. In addition, inclusion bodies of C. trachomatis were demonstrated in biopsy specimens from the lateral funiculus of the pharynx by direct immunofluorscence test using a MicroTrak®.
The authors studied the seroepidemiology of chlamydial infection in healthy controls, patients with acute respiratory infection and patients with inflammation or infection in the otolaryngeal region. Among adult patients with otolaryngeal inflammation, the carrier rate for C. trachomatis specific antibodies was higher than in other groups. In females, especially, the carrier rate for C. trachomatis specific antibodies was very high. This observation suggests that C. trachomatis infection in the otolaryngeal region is not uncommonly caused by oral sexual activity.
