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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, December 1998, p. 3488-3491, Vol. 36, No. 12
0095-1137/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Comparative Evaluation of Chlamydiazyme, PACE 2, and AMP-CT Assays for Detection of Chlamydia trachomatis in Endocervical Specimens

John L. Wylie,^1,2,* Stephen Moses,^2,3 Ryan Babcock,¹ Ann Jolly,^1, Sandra Giercke,¹ and Greg Hammond^1,2,3

Cadham Provincial Laboratory,¹ Manitoba Health, Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba,² and Communicable Disease Control, Public Health Branch, Manitoba Health,³ Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Received 17 June 1998/Returned for modification 13 August 1998/Accepted 7 September 1998

We conducted a comparative evaluation of the Chlamydiazyme (Abbott Laboratories), PACE 2 (Gen-Probe), and AMP-CT (Gen-Probe) assays for the detection of Chlamydia trachomatis in endocervical samples. Specimens from 787 females were included in the study. The sensitivities of the PACE 2 and Chlamydiazyme assays in comparison to the results of the AMP-CT assay were 79.3 and 63.4%, respectively. The specificities of the Chlamydiazyme and PACE 2 assays were 100%. All of the positive specimens detected in this study were positive by the AMP-CT assay. On the basis of the final results of the comparison, the prevalence of C. trachomatis in the population was 10.4%. Retesting of specimens whose results were in the intermediate zone by the PACE 2 assay by a probe competition assay identified some additional true-positive specimens. Amplification assay testing of such specimens did not significantly increase the yield. The majority of specimens which tested positive by the AMP-CT assay only were not in the intermediate zone by the PACE 2 assay. We were unable to identify demographic or clinical factors which could predict those individuals who tested positive by amplified tests but not by nonamplified tests. The Gen-Probe PACE 2 assay proved to be superior to the Chlamydiazyme assay for the screening and diagnosis of C. trachomatis infections in female endocervical specimens.

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^* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Cadham Provincial Laboratory, 750 William Ave., Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3C 3Y1. Phone: (204) 945-7473. Fax: (204) 786-4770. E-mail: jwylie{at}mb.sympatico.ca.

Present address: Bureau of HIV/AIDS and STD, Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0K9.

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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, December 1998, p. 3488-3491, Vol. 36, No. 12
0095-1137/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

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