Open AccessDetection of Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae by Enzyme Immunoassay, Culture, and Three Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests
Author(s) -
E Van Dyck,
Margareta Ieven,
S. R. Pattyn,
Lut Van Damme,
Marie Laga
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of clinical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.349
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1070-633X
pISSN - 0095-1137
DOI - 10.1128/jcm.39.5.1751-1756.2001
Subject(s) - chlamydia trachomatis , neisseria gonorrhoeae , nucleic acid amplification tests , ligase chain reaction , immunoassay , chlamydiaceae , chlamydiales , virology , polymerase chain reaction , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , neisseriaceae , multiplex polymerase chain reaction , antibody , antibiotics , immunology , genetics , gene
The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare three commercially available nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) for the detection ofNeisseria gonorrhoeae andChlamydia trachomatis . Roche PCR and Becton Dickinson strand displacement amplification (SDA) were performed on 733 endocervical swab specimens from commercial sex workers. Abbott ligase chain reaction (LCR) was performed on a subset of 396 samples. Endocervical specimens from all women were also tested by culture forN. gonorrhoeae and by Syva MicroTrak enzyme immunoassay (EIA) forC. trachomatis . A positiveN. gonorrhoeae result was defined as a positive result by culture or by two NAATs, and a positiveC. trachomatis result was defined as a positive result by two tests. According to these definitions, the sensitivities and specificities for the subsample of 396 specimens ofN. gonorrhoeae culture, PCR, SDA, and LCR were 69.8, 95.2, 88.9, and 88.9% and 100, 99.4, 100, and 99.1%, respectively; the sensitivities and specificities ofC. trachomatis EIA, PCR, SDA, and LCR were 42.0, 98.0, 94.0, and 90.0% and 100, 98.0, 100, and 98.6%, respectively. The performance characteristics ofN. gonorrhoeae culture, PCR, and SDA andC. trachomatis EIA, PCR, and SDA for all 733 specimens were defined without inclusion of LCR results and by discrepant analysis after resolution of discordantN. gonorrhoeae PCR results and of discordantC. trachomatis EIA and PCR results by LCR testing. The sensitivities ofN. gonorrhoeae culture, PCR, and SDA before and after LCR resolution were 67.8, 95.7, and 93.9% and 65, 95.8, and 90.0%, respectively. The sensitivities ofC. trachomatis EIA, PCR, and SDA decreased from 39.4, 100, and 100% to 38.7, 98.7, and 94.7%, respectively. All three NAATs proved to be superior toN. gonorrhoeae culture and toC. trachomatis EIA. The accuracies of the different NAATs were quite similar. SDA was the only amplification assay with 100% specificity for detection of bothN. gonorrhoeae andC. trachomatis in endocervical specimens.