Almost 1 in 7 young pregnant women studied by Australian investigators had Chlamydia trachomatis infection, a common sexually transmitted infection that oftentimes does not cause symptoms.

“High rates of asymptomatic chlamydia infections in pregnant women under 20 underscore the importance of incorporating testing for chlamydia into antenatal (before birth) screening programs,” investigator Kate Cheney told Reuters Health.

Ms. Cheney of the Royal Prince Albert Hospital, Sydney and Dr. Lynne Wray of Sydney Hospital reviewed the medical records of 365 young pregnant women, 212 of whom were screened for chlamydia while attending an antenatal clinic.

Twenty-nine women (13.7 percent) had a positive test for genital chlamydia infection, the investigators report in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. That compares with a rate of 9.4 percent for women of all ages attending the same antenatal clinic.

“Genital chlamydia,” continued Ms. Cheney, “can have adverse impacts on pregnancy, leading to risk of premature labor, for example.” If undiagnosed, she added, it can “put the newborn at risk for conjunctivitis and pneumonia.”

“Testing is simple,” she concluded, “and treatment is highly effective with a single dose of antibiotics.”

The researchers say that further investigation is needed to determine the appropriate time of testing, and perhaps repeat testing, in young pregnant women.

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SOURCE: Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, March 2008.