Volume 24, Issue 105, September - October, 2020

Chlamydia pneumoniae seropositivity among public health and health informatics students in Ha'il University, Saudi Arabia

Rafat Zreiq^1,2♦, Fahad D. Algahtani^1,2, Shadi Sulaiman³, Mohd Saeed⁴, Fares Alshammari⁵, Reem M. Ali³

¹Department of Public Health, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, University of Ha'il, Ha'il, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
²Molecular Diagnostic and Personalised Therapeutics Unit, University of Ha'il, Ha'il, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
³Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, University of Ha'il, Ha'il, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
⁴Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Ha'il, Ha'il, Saudi Arabia
⁵Department of Health Informatics, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, University of Ha'il, Ha'il, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

^♦Corresponding author
Department of Public Health, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, University of Ha'il, Ha'il, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Email: r.zrieq@uoh.edu.sa

ABSTRACT

Chlamydia pneumoniae is a common respiratory tract infectious bacterium and associated with chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, atherosclerosis and Alzheimer's. The prevalence of C. pneumoniae infections in general communities and specific populations are mostly conducted in western countries. This work aims to investigate the seroprevalence of the immunoglobulin G (IgG) against C. pneumoniae among public health and health informatics students in Ha'il University, Saudi Arabia. Serum samples of sixty-six students were subjected for the microimmunofluorescence (MIF) test. Current/acute infections were estimated at IgG titres of 16-256, while past/chronic infections at a titre of 512. The seropositivity results were combined with the demographical, medical history and habits as evidenced by the surveyed students. The overall seroprevalence of IgG antibodies against C. pneumoniae was 48.48%, with a higher IgG detection rate in males (55%) than females (48.7%). The seropositivity in students had symptoms was 30.4% (symptomatic), while 58.1% of the students had no symptoms related to C. pneumoniae infection. The serological evidence of C. pneumoniae infection was found in association with asthma (3.03%), sore throat (1.51%), Cough (6.06%) and in smokers (4.55%). In conclusion, although our study relatively shows a moderate prevalence of C. pneumoniae IgG seropositivity, which is likely a leading cause of common respiratory tract infections among students, the results should be used for proper distribution of the internship students in the hospital departments to minimize the contact of C. pneumoniae infected students and subsequently reduces the transmission of C. pneumoniae to the high-risk groups patients.

Keywords: Chlamydia pneumoniae, Microimmunofluorescence, respiratory tract infections, asthma, epidemiology, Saudi Arabia

Medical Science, 2020, 24(105), 3137-3147

PDF