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Chlamydia trachomatis infection of the genital tract is initially mild and most sufferers do not know they have the infection. (1) However, over a period of time untreated infections may be associated with considerable pathology.
During a recent prospective survey of 500 men presenting in this department we recorded the Gram stained microscopy results from urethral swabs. These were scored by the pathologist who had no knowledge of the patient. They were scored on a scale of 1-5, corresponding to 0, 1-4, 5-9, 10-14, and >15 polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMNLs). The results were later correlated with the routine chlamydia ELISA testing. The results are given in table 1.
It can be seen that in the chlamydia positive...