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[Screening of Chlamydia trachomatis: is the diagnostic efficacy good enough?]
C Niederhauser1, C Honegger, L Kaempf
1Mikrobiologisches Institut, Bern, Schweiz. Christoph.Niederhauser@zlb.com
Objective:
In the background of discrepant results of C. trachomatis testing in women with suspected genital infections, three different tests have been compared.
Method:
594 endocervical swabs were collected from women visiting the family planning clinic in Aarau. Each of the following tests was evaluated: Cobas Amplicor Chlamydia trachomatis, IF Chlamyset, and Chlamydia IF direct. If one of these three tests was positive, the fixed material on the slides was scraped off, and a PCR was performed.
Results:
15 out of 594 samples were "true'-positive. PCR recognized 14 of them, the IF Chlamyset 13, and the Chlamydia IF 8. With the IF Chlamyset 37 samples were false-positive.
Conclusions:
PCR testing exhibits a good sensitivity and a high specificity, but we think that the sensitivity can be increased by improving the sample preparation step. The Chlamydia IF direct has a good specificity, but a rather low sensitivity. It should be noted that the PCR has the potential to become a new gold standard for the detection of C. trachomatis.