Fresh frozen tubal tissue from 55 patients with ectopic pregnancy in a hospital setting were examined for the presence of C. trachomatis DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and blood sample were analysed for antibodies to C. trachomatis including heat shock protein 60 (hsp60).
Chlamydial DNA was not detected in any of the 55 tubal specimens using a commercial test, Cobas Amplicor, Roche, and an in-house real time PCR able to detect a few copies of the organism. Logistic regression showed that chlamydial IgG antibodies were more common in a subgroup of patients with previous PID than in controls (OR = 7.84, CI 1.78–34.6). Specific antibodies to hsp60 of chlamydial (OR = 7.00, CI 1.50–32.6) but not of human origin (OR = 2.13, CI 0.14–31.6) were associated with ectopic pregnancy in this group.
No evidence of persistent infection of C. trachomatis in the fallopian tubes at the time of ectopic pregnancy was found in this study.