With this episode, you’re getting much more than you probably bargained for, thanks to the quirks of Chlamydia trachomatis. This small but mighty bacterium can cause a number of different conditions throughout your body, most notably in your eyes and your genital tract, and the resulting infections, if left untreated, can lead to substantial and permanent damage. In this episode, we focus on the two most common forms of chlamydia infection, trachoma (eyes) and chlamydia (genital tract), and discuss the similar pathway through which this bacterium leads to these distinct diseases. While the biology of trachoma and chlamydia may be similar, the history of these two infections could not be more distinct. Tune in to hear what ancient medical texts have to say about trachoma, how surprisingly recently chlamydia was recognized as an STI, and where we stand with these two incredibly common infections today!
| History | Biology |
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| Oriel, J. David. The scars of Venus: a history of venereology. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012. | Elwell, C., Mirrashidi, K. and Engel, J., 2016. Chlamydia cell biology and pathogenesis. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 14(6), pp.385-400. |
| Worboys, Michael. “Chapter Five Chlamydia: A Disease without a History.” The Hidden Affliction (2019). | Bébéar, C. and De Barbeyrac, B.J.C.M., 2009. Genital Chlamydia trachomatis infections. Clinical microbiology and infection, 15(1), pp.4-10. |
| Borges, Vítor, et al. “Directional evolution of Chlamydia trachomatis towards niche-specific adaptation.” Journal of bacteriology 194.22 (2012): 6143-6153. | Huai, P., Li, F., Chu, T., Liu, D., Liu, J. and Zhang, F., 2020. Prevalence of genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection in the general population: a meta-analysis. BMC infectious diseases, 20(1), pp.1-8. |
| Clarke, Ian N. “Evolution of Chlamydia trachomatis.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1230.1 (2011): E11-E18. | Redmond, S.M., Alexander-Kisslig, K., Woodhall, S.C., Van Den Broek, I.V., Van Bergen, J., Ward, H., Uusküla, A., Herrmann, B., Andersen, B., Götz, H.M. and Sfetcu, O., 2015. Genital chlamydia prevalence in Europe and non-European high income countries: systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One, 10(1), p.e0115753. |
| Gomes, João P., et al. “Evolution of Chlamydia trachomatis diversity occurs by widespread interstrain recombination involving hotspots.” Genome research 17.1 (2007): 50-60. | Newman, L., Rowley, J., Vander Hoorn, S., Wijesooriya, N.S., Unemo, M., Low, N., Stevens, G., Gottlieb, S., Kiarie, J. and Temmerman, M., 2015. Global estimates of the prevalence and incidence of four curable sexually transmitted infections in 2012 based on systematic review and global reporting. PloS one, 10(12), p.e0143304. |
| Nunes, Alexandra, et al. “Adaptive evolution of the Chlamydia trachomatis dominant antigen reveals distinct evolutionary scenarios for B-and T-cell epitopes: worldwide survey.” PloS one 5.10 (2010): e13171. | Phillips, S., Quigley, B.L. and Timms, P., 2019. Seventy years of Chlamydia vaccine research–limitations of the past and directions for the future. Frontiers in microbiology, 10, p.70. |
| Taylor, Henry R. “Doyne Lecture: trachoma, is it history?.” Eye 23.11 (2009): 2007-2022. | Rowley, J., Vander Hoorn, S., Korenromp, E., Low, N., Unemo, M., Abu-Raddad, L.J., Chico, R.M., Smolak, A., Newman, L., Gottlieb, S. and Thwin, S.S., 2019. Chlamydia, gonorrhoea, trichomoniasis and syphilis: global prevalence and incidence estimates, 2016. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 97(8), p.548. |
| Carter, J.D., 2006. Reactive arthritis: defined etiologies, emerging pathophysiology, and unresolved treatment. Infectious Disease Clinics, 20(4), pp.827-847. | |
| Pathan, E. and Inman, R.D., 2019. Pathophysiology of Reactive Arthritis. In Infections and the Rheumatic Diseases (pp. 345-353). Springer, Cham. | |
| Reekie, J., Donovan, B., Guy, R., Hocking, J.S., Kaldor, J.M., Mak, D.B., Pearson, S., Preen, D., Stewart, L., Ward, J. and Liu, B., 2018. Risk of pelvic inflammatory disease in relation to chlamydia and gonorrhea testing, repeat testing, and positivity: a population-based cohort study. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 66(3), pp.437-443. | |
| Olson-Chen, C., Balaram, K. and Hackney, D.N., 2018. Chlamydia trachomatis and adverse pregnancy outcomes: meta-analysis of patients with and without infection. Maternal and child health journal, 22(6), pp.812-821 | |
| Edwards, V.L., Smith, S.B., McComb, E.J., Tamarelle, J., Ma, B., Humphrys, M.S., Gajer, P., Gwilliam, K., Schaefer, A.M., Lai, S.K. and Terplan, M., 2019. The cervicovaginal microbiota-host interaction modulates Chlamydia trachomatis infection. MBio, 10(4), pp.e01548-19. | |
| De Vries, H.J.C., de Barbeyrac, B., De Vrieze, N.H.N., Viset, J.D., White, J.A., Vall-Mayans, M. and Unemo, M., 2019. 2019 European guideline on the management of lymphogranuloma venereum. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol, 33(10), pp.1821-1828. | |
| Stoner, B.P. and Cohen, S.E., 2015. Lymphogranuloma venereum 2015: clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 61(suppl_8), pp.S865-S873. | |
| Taylor, H.R., Burton, M.J., Haddad, D., West, S. and Wright, H., 2014. Trachoma. The Lancet, 384(9960), pp.2142-2152. | |
| Mabey, D.C., Solomon, A.W. and Foster, A., 2003. Trachoma. The Lancet, 362(9379), pp.223-229. | |
| WHO. 2022. Trachoma Fact Sheet. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/trachoma | |
| CDC 2021. National Overview of STDs, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/std/statistics/2019/overview.htm#Chlamydia |
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