Upgraded diagnostic value of Gen-Probe PACE 2 assay for detection of Chlamydia trachomatis infection.
In this study, we evaluate the performance of a nucleic acid amplification assay, COBAS AMPLICOR (Roche Molecular systems) (PCR), compared to non-amplified DNA probe assay PACE2 (Gen-Probe Inc.) for the detection of C. trachomatis in a total of 2,916 samples (2,114 females and 802 males) consecutively collected in two different clinical pathology laboratories, over a period of three years. In the females, the endocervical swabs showed a similar range of detection when using the two different methods: out of 1,581 females processed with PACE 2, 1.4% (2005), 0.9% (2006), 0.5% (2007), resulted positive for C. trachomatis; out of 533 females processed with PCR, 1.3% (2005), 1.5% (2006) and 1.2% (2007), resulted positive. However, in the male subjects we found an increased positivity of Chlamydia detection on urethral swabs by using PACE 2: 4.8% (2005), 1.9% (2006) and 2.9% (2007), compared to urine specimen processed by PCR: 1% (2005), 1.4% (2006) and 0% (2007). Even if PCR should be considered a most promising tool for routine diagnosis of Chlamydia infection, Gen Probe allowed us to better identify Chlamydia trachomatis (in 4.8% of urethral swabs compared to urine) leading to a hypothesis that extracellular EB forms of Chlamydia could be absent in urine in persistent infectious.
Robuffo
I
I
Istituto di Genetica Molecolare, CNR, Sezione di Chieti, Chieti, Italy. robuffo@unich.it
Fazii
P
P
Rulli
A
A
Di Nicola
M
M
Toniato
E
E
Di Rienzo
M
M
Cosentino
L
L
Gambi
A
A
Castellani
M L
ML
Martinotti
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000382:microbiology; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003228:Conjunctiva / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015336:Molecular Probe Techniques; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D014521:Urethra / Q000382:microbiology; D014556:Urine / Q000382:microbiology; D055815:Young Adult