IMMUNE-RESPONSE CHARACTERISTICS IN WOMEN WITH CHLAMYDIAL GENITAL-TRACT INFECTION

Immune responses in women with chlamydial genital tract infection who achieved a bacteriologic cure were prospectively compared to those women who had an incomplete clinical response. Local anti-chlamydia IgA antibody responses were significantly diminished in the outpatient treatment group who had an incomplete response, while circulating IgG responses did not differ significantly between groups. This is in contrast to both specific and nonspecific lymphoproliferative responses which were similar between uninfected controls and women with a chlamydial genital tract infection, regardless of treatment outcome. Thus, the kinetics of successful outpatient treatment of chlamydial genital tract infections may have an immunologic component which can be measured at the time of initial evaluation, and may be predictive of the clinical response to adjunctive antibiotics.