TY - JOUR PY - 2021// TI - Reducing suspicion of sexual abuse in paediatric chlamydial conjunctivitis using ompA genotyping JO - BMJ case reports A1 - Mitchell, Alexander A1 - Patel, Mitul A1 - Manning, Chloe A1 - Abbott, Joseph SP - e2020 EP - 238871 VL - 14 IS - 3 N2 - Chlamydia trachomatis is a Gram-negative bacterium that causes urogenital tract infections, and ocular infections including trachoma, neonatal conjunctivitis and adult chlamydial inclusion conjunctivitis. A positive C. trachomatis diagnosis in children often raises suspicions of sexual abuse. While outer membrane protein A (ompA) genotypes A-C are non-invasive and are associated with trachoma; ompA genotypes D-K are often associated with sexually transmitted urogenital infections or sexually acquired chlamydial conjunctivitis. A 10-year-old female presented with a 7-month history of unilateral conjunctivitis with itching, watering and hyperaemia. She had recently moved from an urban centre in Afghanistan to the UK. A conjunctival swab taken from the child tested positive for C. trachomatis Application of ompA genotyping to conjunctival swab chlamydial DNA demonstrated that the C. trachomatis had an ompA genotype C. Chlamydial strains with this ompA genotype cause trachoma and have never previously been associated with urogenital infection. This result supported cessation of child protection investigations.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1757-790X UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2020-238871 ID - ref1 ER -