Jacqueline Odza
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Michelle Ammerman
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Civil and Environmental / Engineering
Program:
Authors: Jacqueline Odza, Michelle Ammerman
Session: Session 5: 2:40 pm – 3:30 pm
Poster: 71
Abstract
Chlamydia trachomatis is a bacterial pathogen, with serovars D-K causing oculogenital infections. The serovars examined are contagious to humans and can cause painful and frequent urination, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) in women–which can cause tubal infertility and ectopic pregnancy–and prostatitis and epididymitis in men. However, 70% of cases are asymptomatic in women and 50% in men. These asymptomatic cases could result in a discrepancy between the actual number of cases and the reported values, as with clinical-testing, the asymptomatic cases may not be found. The accuracy of the values could be improved using wastewater surveillance, which tests regardless of symptoms. C. trachomatis has been detected using neighborhood level wastewater testing, but we sought to determine if C. trachomatis could be detected using the same methods at the community level with samples from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). To test for Chlamydia in WWTP samples, digital droplet Polymerase Chain Reaction (ddPCR) was used. ddPCR is a very sensitive version of quantitative PCR, allowing for the quantification of a small amount of DNA of the target in a sample. The DNA is extracted from WWTP settled solid samples. Then ddPCR was performed using primer/probe sets specific to the OmpA gene in all Chlamydia (CT) and group B (CB) specifically, which includes many of the urogenital serovars. Primers, probes, and a positive control DNA were designed using the same sequence of C. trachomatis, such that the control would be detected by the primers and probes. Results from ddPCR showed that the primer probe sets can detect the positive control designed. The WWTP samples showed only background positive values, not significantly above the negative control level. Although we did not detect C. trachomatis in WWTP samples at levels above the limit of detection, it is possible that these reaction conditions might still be effective during an outbreak of C. trachomatis. Future work will also focus on methods optimization including tests to determine if a different sample types and/or extraction methods are necessary.
