TABLE 1.

Characteristics of and associations with bacterial load^a

Patient category	Chlamydia trachomatis		Neisseria gonorrhoeae
	Median log10 IFU/nl	P	Median log10 copies/μl	P
Characteristics of genital bacterial load
Single genital infection	2.7		2.9
Mixed genital infection withb:
Chlamydia trachomatis			2.6	0.55
Neisseria gonorrhoeae	1.6	0.06
Mycoplasma genitalium	2.9	0.60	3.1	0.23
Trichomonas vaginalis	2.7	0.70	3.6	0.16
Reported HIV infectionc
Yes	2.6	0.52	2.5	0.56
No	2.7		3.0
Genital infection statusd
Symptomatic	2.6	0.54	3.3	0.16
Asymptomatic	2.7		2.7
Infection category
Single (genital only)	2.3	0.002	2.7	0.004
Double	3.2		5.8
Characteristics of rectal bacterial load
Infection category
Single (anorectal only)	2.7	0.63	4.0	0.39
Double	2.1		4.9
Associations with genital bacterial load
Age
≤24 yrs	3.0	0.010	5.5	<0.001
>24 yrs	2.5		2.5
Currently pregnant
Yes	3.4	0.017	3.0	0.29
No	2.5		2.5
Hormonal injections
Yes	2.7	0.96	3.0	0.45
No	2.6		2.7
Intravaginal cleansing
Yes	3.0	0.29	2.5	0.11
No	2.7		3.0
No. of sexual partners in last 6 mo
≤1 partner	2.7	0.66	2.7	0.028
>1 partners	3.0		5.2
Days since last sex act
≤7 days	2.7	0.70	2.7	0.61
>7 days	2.5		2.9
Concurrent relationship <1 yr earlier
Yes	2.7	0.58	4.9	0.021
No	2.7		2.6

^aBoldface data indicate statistically significant results.

^bMixed infection per pathogen given, with the P value related to single-infection data as a reference.

^cHIV (human immunodeficiency virus), HIV-positive status compared with negative status in the previous 6 months.

^dGenital infection is defined as symptomatic when abnormal vaginal discharge, intramenstrual bleeding, or vaginal blood loss during or after sexual intercourse was reported.