Prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis Genotypes in Men Who Have Sex with Men and Men Who Have Sex with Women Using Multilocus VNTR Analysis-ompA Typing in Guangzhou, China

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 11; no. 7; p. e0159658
• Main Authors: Qin, Xiaolin, Zheng, Heping, Xue, Yaohua, Ren, Xuqi, Yang, Bin, Huang, Jinmei, Huang, Shujie, Wu, Xingzhong, Zeng, Weiying, Ou, Jiangli, Lan, Yinyuan, Tang, Sanmei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 19.07.2016; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Bacteria; Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins - genetics; Biology and Life Sciences; China - epidemiology; Chlamydia; Chlamydia Infections - diagnosis; Chlamydia Infections - epidemiology; Chlamydia Infections - microbiology; Chlamydia trachomatis; Chlamydia trachomatis - classification; Chlamydia trachomatis - genetics; Chlamydia trachomatis - isolation & purification; Condoms; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Disease prevention; Disease transmission; DNA; Earth Sciences; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Epidemiology; Female; Gays & lesbians; Gene Expression; Gene sequencing; Genetic aspects; Genotype; Genotypes; Genotyping; Health aspects; Homosexuality, Male; Humans; Infections; Infectious diseases; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Membrane proteins; Men; Mens health; Methods; Middle Aged; MSM (Men who have sex with men); Multilocus Sequence Typing; Nucleic acids; People and Places; Phylogeny; Rectum; Rectum - microbiology; Research and Analysis Methods; Risk factors; Sex; Sexual behavior; Sexual Partners; Sexually transmitted diseases; Skin diseases; STD; Studies; Surveillance; Tandem Repeat Sequences; Urethra - microbiology; China; Guangzhou China; Japan; Germany
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0159658

Chlamydia trachomatis is one of the most prevalent bacterial sexually transmitted infection in China. Although C. trachomatis genotypes can be discriminated by outer membrane protein gene (ompA) sequencing, currently available methods have limited resolutions. This study used a high-resolution genotyping method, namely, multilocus variable number tandem-repeat analysis with ompA sequencing (MLVA)-ompA, to investigate the local epidemiology of C. trachomatis infections among men who have sex with men (MSM) and men who have sex with women (MSW) attending a sexually transmitted diseases (STD) clinic in Guangzhou, China. Rectal specimens from MSM and urethral specimens from MSW were collected between January 2013 and July 2014 at the Guangdong Provincial Center STD clinic. The specimens were sent to the laboratory for analyses. All specimens that were tested positive for C. trachomatis by the commercial nucleic acid amplification tests were genotyped by MLVA-ompA. Fifty-one rectal specimens from MSM and 96 urethral specimens from MSW were identified with C. trachomatis. One hundred and forty-four of the 147 specimens were fully genotyped by MLVA-ompA. Rectal specimens from MSM were divided into four ompA genotypes and urethral specimens from MSW into nine genotypes. No mixed infections were found among all specimens. The most frequent genotypes were D, G, J, E and F. All specimens were further divided into 46 types after ompA genotyping was combined with MLVA. Genotypes D-8.7.1 and G-3.4a.3 were the most frequent among MSM, whereas genotypes D-3.4a.4, E-8.5.1, F-8.5.1, and J-3.4a.2 were the most frequent subtypes among MSW. The discriminatory index D was 0.90 for MLVA, 0.85 for ompA, and 0.95 for MLVA-ompA. The most prevalent MLVA-ompA genotypes were significantly different between MSM and MSW from Guangzhou, China. Moreover, MLVA-ompA represented a more favorable degree of discrimination than ompA and could be a reliable complement for ompA for the routine subtypes of C. trachomatis.