Endocervical chlamydial deoxyribonucleic acid in infertile women.

The presence of chlamydial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was evaluated by DNA hybridization in endocervical cells of infertile and normal fertile women. Chlamydial DNA was detected in 49 of 186 (26.3%) infertile patients, which is significantly more common than in fertile control individuals (12.5%, or 8 of 64 individuals). Among infertile patients, 49.3% (33 of 67) of those with tubal factors as cause of infertility and 13.4% (16 of 119) of those with nontubal factors were found to contain chlamydial DNA in their endocervical cells. The results show that chlamydial DNA could be found significantly more frequently in endocervical cells of infertile patients with tubal factor than those without tubal factors or in normal controls.