[Evaluation of a rapid diagnostic method in Chlamydia trachomatis infections]

This study is based on 526 female patients investigated by gynecologists in an ambulatory practice (G.P.'s). The samples originating from within the uterine neck have been analysed by one so-called "rapid" test (D.I.F.T.) and after culture in McCoy cells. Prevalence by culture is 20.5% and sensitivity is 96.5%, whereas prevalence is only 4.9% and sensitivity about 20.4% for D.I.F.T. For D.I.F.T.-test, the predictive positive value is 76.6%, when the predictive negative value is close to 82.8%. These results give the evidence that the inoculation of uro-genital specimens in cell-cultures still remains the gold standard method for detecting C. trachomatis infections.