Chlamydia

Chlamydia is a disease that is caused by the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis. One of the virulence factors of this bacterium is its cell wall (7). Bacterial cell walls are extremely important in microbiology and can be important in treating diseases. There are two types of bacterial cell wall compositions and they can be distinguished as gram-positive or gram-negative (1). Chlamydia is gram-negative (3). The gram-negative and gram-positive staining procedure was invented to help categorize groups of cells. Gram-negative bacteria, when stained, develop to a pink color (1). Chlamydia and other gram-negative bacteria’s cell walls consist of two layers, a thin peptidoglycan wall and a thick outer membrane. The outer membrane contains lipids bonded to polysaccharides and helps hold together the peptidoglycan layers (1). Bacteria that develops a purple stain is said to be gram-positive. Gram-positive bacterium’s cell wall is very thick and consists of peptidoglycan layers. Outside of these layers, in either a gram-positive or gram-negative cell, a gelatinous layer, also known as the capsule, can exist. This layer helps protect various species of bacteria (4).
Chlamydia and other bacteria’s genetic material lie in the c

Chlamydia has three species that include the following: trachomatis, C psittaci, and C pneumonia. Stereotypes A, B, and C trachomatis are the causes of the blinding disease trachoma. Stereotypes D to K are sexually transmitted and cause many problems in men and women (5). Chlamydia is estimated the most prevalent sexually transmitted disease with three to four million new cases each year (6). The disease is spread from sexual contact with an infected partner. Chlamydia is spread almost entirely by anal, oral, or vaginal sex. Some infections are spread to women; however, Chlamydia is mainly transmitted from male homosexual contact (2).

The only way to prevent Chlamydia entirely is to practice sexual abstinence. However, there are ways to reduce the risk of becoming infected. These ways consist of the following: a person should have themselves and their partners screened for Chlamydia regularly, use condoms, form a relationship where both people are faithful at all times, or limit a person’s partners (2). Another way of treating the problem of Chlamydia may be to give antibiotics to all people in the high risk groups. The group with the highest risk includes people who are white, under the age of twenty, and who live in an urban setting (6). However, this may be perceived as an ill practice of medicine and may carry the risk of under treatment. It may also result in the appearance of organisms in the body that are resistant to the antibiotics that treat Chlamydia. Today’s research has slowed because AIDS and HIV have taken priority; however, many people are still searching for a way to prevent Chlamydia entirely. Vaccination may eventually be possible but preliminary results suggest this will be difficult to achieve (5). Other than the research on a vaccine research has been done to find a way of testing people for Chlamydia without having to take a swab sample of there cells from the genital area. Research has also been focused on the new drug treatment Azithromycin, as mentioned before, because it was found to cure Chlamydia in only one dosage. This treatment was only just recently approved by the FDA (2).

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