Pooling strategy for the detection of genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection

Abstract

INTRODUCTION & OBJECTIVES: When taking care about the reproductive health of young women and men early diagnostics of silent bacterial sexually transmitted infections is emphasized as inexpensive and effective treatment can be available while serious outcomes haven’t appeared yet. Active case finding such as screening has been suggested to detect asymptomatic cases of Chlamydia trachomatis infections. Screening pooled samples has attracted the attention for its advantages to reduce the costs of testing. Objectives: on the basis of the literature review to discuss the pooling method as an utility instrument for identification Chlamydia trachomatis infection cases in high risk groups; to present data of Lithuanian experience when using pooling method in detection urogenital chlamydia infection. MATERIAL & METHODS: There were analysed the publications with the studies where the pooling of cervical, urine, vaginal specimens was used on the basis of testing for C. trachomatis. The performance characteristics and cost-effectiveness of pooling vaginal samples and urine samples for screening and diagnosis of C. trachomatis using Digene Capture II CT/NG Test (HCII) in Lithuanian female students and military recruits were presented. RESULTS: There was found that most of the studies were designed when pooling urine samples for molecular diagnosis of Chlamydia trachomatis. The pools of 3-5 samples dominated. The presented pooling strategies were specific, sensitive and savings depending on the prevalence of the chlamydia infection ranged from 40 to 70% for diagnosis of each individual sample. Lithuanian studies showed that the evaluated pooling strategies (3, 5 or 10 samples per pool) comprised high sensitivity (100%) as well as specificity (100%) in comparison [...].