Anorectal Chlamydia Trachomatis infection in asymptomatic women

We want to find out how many women who test positive for Chlamydia Trachomatis infection in the urogenital region, are also infected in anal canal (back passage) . This study focuses on women who have no symptoms of infection and have had no anal sexual contact in the past six months. This is because, symptoms of chlamydia often do not show up in women. Also, anal canal chlamydia can be present when the vagina or urethra are infected, even when a woman has not participated in any anal sexual contact, and at this time we do not know how many women are cross infected in this way. This research help us understand how much anal chlamydia may be present in women infected with urogenital chlamydia but have no symptoms and no history of anal sexual contact. This is important as the medications used to treat the CT in the two different anatomical regions is different. ie the treatment for urogenital CT is not as effective as the optimal treatment for ano rectal CT. The research will help us to make any necessary policy changes to improve chlamydia detection and treatment, because if women with no symptoms are not tested correctly, this can result in several unpleasant health problems, with spread of infection to sexual partners and any unborn children the woman may carry. The study hypothesis is that In a North Queensland population of women with urogenital CT who are asymptomatic and report no previous anal sexual contact, 50% will test positive for concurrent anorectal CT (based on an estimate from data from a previous international study [Van Liere et al.,2014]).