What is Chlamydia trachomatis nucleic acid?
Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular bacterium infecting columnar epithelial cells of the urogenital tract, rectum, pharynx, and conjunctiva. Most urogenital infections in women are asymptomatic but untreated infection ascends to cause pelvic inflammatory disease, tubal factor infertility, and chronic pelvic pain. In men urethritis is more frequently symptomatic though a substantial minority remain asymptomatic. Transcription-mediated amplification (TMA) targets bacterial ribosomal RNA, present in many copies per organism, offering very high analytical sensitivity.