[Diagnosis of genital Chlamydia trachomatis infections using antigen detection and cell culture]

The purpose of this study is: 1. comparing the immuno-enzymatic method (E.L.I.S.A. Abbott) and the cellular culture in the screening of the chlamydial genital infections; 2. evaluating these two tests in post-treatment control. During a 3 month period, 825 patients of our S.T.D. Clinic are considered a risk group and 144 have a positive culture. The E.L.I.S.A. method presents a sensitivity of 70.8% and a specificity of 98.5%. On the other hand, the sensitivity rises up to 80.9% if we retain only the primary culture. Interesting fact: if the reading on the spectrophotometer (E.L.I.S.A. Quantum) is greater than 0.7, the culture is always positive. Being a sexual contact of an infected person, having more than one partner or an history of a S.T.D. in the past, all these factors increase the risk of a chlamydial positivity, but in female only. We observe that 76.5% of patients suffering from gonorrhea have also a chlamydial infection proven by culture. Following a post-treatment control of one week, 5 cases remain positive, that is 3 by E.L.I.S.A. and 2 by culture, while three weeks later all cases are negative. The E.L.I.S.A. method has a good correlation with culture, is highly specific and the reading of optic density seems useful in predicting a positive culture. Risk factors are not the same in male and female. The post-treatment controls by both methods are not always similar if they are performed after one or three weeks.