Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Corresponding author: Loucine M. Huckabay, Lucy. Chlamydia Trachomatis CT is a global problem. We compared the risk taking behaviors for CT infection between men and women. Adults females, males were administered the Risk Behavior Assessment. In women, CT was associated with candidiasis, in men with gonorrhea, genital warts, and syphilis.
Risk factors for both genders were trading sex for money, use of marijuana for women, and use of Ecstasy and Viagra for men. In , more than 1. The highest prevalence is in adolescents of both genders with a decrease in prevalence for each increasing five-year period in age Stamm, The prevalence, risk factors, and sequelae of CT infection is different in women compared to men, so the emphasis in this manuscript is on gender differences.
For instance, it is more often diagnosed in adolescent females than in males. CT infections are ten times more prevalent than gonorrhea infections 4. Although CT infections are mostly asymptomatic when they do occur in women, infection is associated with mucopurulent cervicitis, Bartholinitis, endometritis, salpingitis, and urethritis Stamm, When women have CT infection during pregnancy this puts their newborn at risk for infant conjunctivitis and pneumonia Schachter, Risk factors for CT infection in men have not been extensively studied Stamm, , hence this is another motivation for our approach of examining gender differences.
This common co-infection is also shown in a study of heterosexual men in Italy which showed that Alabama researchers found that female adolescents testing positive for CT were also more likely to be positive for NG Williams et al. There has been some research interest in the co-infection of CT and Human Papillomavirus HPV because of the suggestion that the co-infection may play a major role in cervical neoplasia and investigators in Brazil found a co-infection prevalence of There has also been some interest in the literature with the co-infection with syphilis.
CT infections of the genital tract can facilitate transmission of human immunodeficiency virus HIV Babinska et al. Drug and alcohol use, especially binge drinking are strong predictors of engaging in high risk sexual behaviors which increases the chances of contracting STDs and CT NIH, Hutton et al, and NIH have shown that the earlier a person engages in drug use, the higher the risks for developing serious problems in the brain which can have profound and long lasting effect.
