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PREFACE
Author(s) -
Østergaard Lars
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
apmis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1600-0463
pISSN - 0903-4641
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0463.1999.tb05671.x
Subject(s) - citation , library science , computer science , information retrieval
Urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis infection may cause serious complications, such as female infertility and ectopic pregnancy. A diagnosis of urogenital Chlamydia infection is often overlooked. First because the available diagnostic tests are suboptimal, second because a high number of infected individuals do not have symptoms and therefore do not seek a physician for testing. The objective of the studies in this thesis was to improve the diagnosis ofurogenital C trachomatis infections. The scientific work comprises development and improvement of DNA amplification tests, comparative studies of these tests with conventional diagnostic tests, new clinical applications, and the potential impact of these tests on detecting more infections in apparently healthy individuals. The thesis is based on eight published studies conducted from 1989 to 1997 at the Institute of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Aarhus, the Department of Clinical Microbiology, and the Department of Infectious Diseases, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark. I am indebted to all who contributed to the scientific work. I particularly want to thank Professor Gunna Christiansen and Dr. Svend Birkelund for introducing me to molecular biology and C trachomatis. I also thank Dr. Jens K. MO1ler, Dr. Berit Andersen, and Professor Frede Olesen for excellent scientific teamwork, and I am gratehl to Dr. Paul L. Andersen and Professor Finn T. Black for their support and scientific discussions. Furthermore I will thank Jonna Guldberg, Mette Jensen, and Gitte HOj for their meticulous technical assistance and their invaluable enthusiasm. I also wish to thank the Institute of Experimental Clinical Research, University of Aarhus, The Danish Medical Research Council, and the Danish National Board of Health for financial support. Finally this work would never have been done without the encouragement and personal support from my loving wife Anne-Lene, Andreas, and our two daughters Helena and Julia, who know infinitely more about the Chlamydia infection than most of children in primary school.