THE PREVALENCE OF CHLAMYDIA TRACHOMATIS IN THE POPULATION LIVING IN ROMA SETTLEMENTS: A COMPARISON WITH THE MAJORITY POPULATION.

Background: We aimed to study the occurrence of Chlamydia trachomatis infection in the population living in Roma settlements and to compare the obtained results with the prevalence in the majority population. Methods: We examined 340 people for the presence of bacterium C. trachomatis, 208 of them were Roma (66 men, 142 women) and 132 were from the majority population (75 men, 57 women). Respondents were aged 18-55 years (mean age = 33.44, STD = 9.57). The occurence of C. trachomatis was detected by direct proof of the pathogen by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: Of 340 respondents included in the study, 22 (6.5%) showed positivity for C. trachomatis infection, 15 of them were Roma (7.2%) and 7 non-Roma (5.3%). The highest positivity was detected in Roma women (8.5%), while positivity in both non-Roma women and men was 5.3%, and in Roma men 4.5%. We did not confirm any significant contribution of age, gender or ethnicity to the occurrence of C. trachomatis infection. Conclusions: Despite the increased number of people with risk factors in the Roma community, no significant difference in the occurrence of C. trachomatis infection was found. Neither age nor gender contributes to the probability of C. trachomatis infection. Nevertheless, there are other health consequences which might be more pronounced among the population living in Roma settlements due to barriers to the health care and their lower ability to benefit from health care services provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]