Abstract:

Objective To study the relationship of symptoms of female gonococcal infections to Chlamydia trachomatis infection, serum sex hormone levels, etc. Methods A total of 136 gonorrhea female patients without obvious symptoms were recruited in this study together with 45 gonorrhea patients with obvious symptoms as the controls. Serum progesterone （P） and estradiol （E2） levels were measured by radio immunoassay （RIA）. Cervical swabs were obtained from the subjects and eluted into isotonic saline solution, the elution was divided into 2 portions and tested for the levels of TNF-α and IL-1β by ELISA and for the DNA of C. trachomatis and N. gonorrhea with PCR. Statistical analysis was carried out by SPSS for Windows （version 12.0）. Results There was no statistical correlation between C. trachomatis infection and asymptomatic status of female gonococcal infection （χ2 = 0.016, P > 0.05）. However, the decrease in the level of TNF-α and IL-1β significantly correlated with the increase in serum progestogen （r = -0.8798, -0.8935, respectively, both P < 0.01）. Conclusion The high serum level of progesterone may be associated with the asymptomatic status of gonococcal infection.