Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular microorganism that is the cause of sexually transmitted diseases. The clinical spectrum of the disease ranges from non-gonococcal urethritis. cervicitis, endometritis. salpingitis to
conjuntivitis
and
pneumonia. At present, culture of the organism on a cell line is considered the "gold standard" for detction of C. trachomatis, although it is very laborious and its sensitivity is estimated to be only about 70-95%, even in experienced
laboratories. A
diagnostic method based on the extremely sensitive technique of DNA amplification by a polymerase chain reaction(PCR) would therefore be very useful and PCR assays for the detection of C. trachomatis have been reported recently. In the present
study, we
evaluated the PCR technique for detection of C. trachomatis, and compared its diagnostic performance with those of the cell culture method.
The prevalences of C. trachomatis by PCR and cell culture were 7.5%(6 of the 80 samples) and 5%(4 of the 80 samples), respectively. Four of eighty samples were discordant as 3 samples were culture negative, PCR positive, which might represent a
false
negative of culture, and one sample was culture positive, PCR negative, which might have been due to the absence of an inclusion body or an inhibitor in the sample. Compared with the cell culture method, the PCR has a sensitivity of 98%. The PCR
assay
demonstrated a analytical sensitivity of 10E-12 of DNA. The 9 serovars of C. trachomatis A, B, C, D, E, G, L1, L2, L3 were detected by PCR. On the basis of these results, it is considered that the PCR technique is a valuable tool for diagnosing
C.
trachomatis infections because of its high sensitivity and specificity.
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