Historical assesment of chlamydia trachomatis in Puerto Rico: Cumulative cases from 2004 to 2010

BACKGROUND: Chlamydia trachomatis is considered a public health burden problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC, 2012) 1,307,893 Chlamydia trachomatis infection cases were reported in the United States. Meanwhile 7,468 cases were reported in Puerto Rico, including the Virgin Islands and Guam. The aim of our study is to describe the tendency of Chlamydia trachomatis among Puerto Ricans for the time period 2004-2010.

METHODS: Our descriptive study consisted of 40,515 cases of Chlamydia trachomatis in men and women aged 15 to 29 years of age for the years 2004-2010 in which we compared historical tendencies by year for both genders. Our data was based on the secondary database of the Department of Health of Puerto Rico. We used SPSS version 17.0 for the statistical analysis.

RESULTS: During the years 2004-2010, a total of 5,186 cases of Chlamydia trachomatis for men and a total of 32,677 cases of Chlamydia trachomatis for women were reported. In the ages 15 to 24, there were 27,682 cases while there were 10,181 cases for the ages 25 to 34 years old.

CONCLUSION: We found a steady increase of the Chlamydia trachomatis infection in the population tested. Our analyses highlight the need for increased testing among sexually active young adults.