Inapparent genital infection with Chlamydia trachomatis and its potential role in the genesis of Reiters syndrome.

An infectious etiology has been suggested for Reiter's syndrome (RS) because the disease has often been observed to follow episodes of urethritis or dysentery. Despite demonstrations of bacterial antigens in the synovial tissues of RS patients, it is not clear whether viable organisms are present in the synovium in any particular stage of this disease. Furthermore, it is not clear how either viable organisms or their product(s) might reach the joints. Infection with the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States, and as such this organism has emerged as a primary pathogen associated with RS. Previous work from our group has shown that synovial biopsy tissues from a majority of RS patients studied show significant levels of apparently intact chlamydial RNA, even when synovial or urethral cultures from the same patients are unequivocally negative for the organism. We show here that inapparent urethral infection with chlamydia occurs with high prevalence in men, and that inapparent cervical infection with the organism occurs at high prevalence in women. These data provide an important link in the relationship between initial chlamydial infection and possible subsequent genesis of RS, and they may give useful insight into mechanisms by which chlamydial infection can lead to development of this disease. Our data argue further that inapparent infection may be a significant factor in pathogenesis for all chlamydia-related diseases, and they suggest that, contrary to current ideas, C. trachomatis can generate disseminated infection.