Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Journal of Clinical Microbiology, December 1998, p. 3488-3491, Vol. 36, No. 12
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.
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

*
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.
This article has been cited by other articles:
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»