Solid phase immunoassay for C trachomatis.

CORRESPONDENCE Solid phase immunoassay for C trachomatis The development of chlamydial antigen detection kits has led to the wider availability of diagnostic services for this organism. Currently, two technologies are readily available; immunofluorescence microscopy and enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (EIA). Neither technology is perfect, with problems of sensitivity and of specificity.' Advances continue, and it is important that new kits are properly evaluated against chlamydial cell culture in both high and low risk populations. Solid phase immunoassay (IA) tests are simple to use, requiring little technical expertise. They are likely to become popular as "office" tests. We recently evaluated the performance of a novel IA utilising coloured latex particles (Clearview Chlamydia, Unipath, Bedford, UK) for cervical specimens against conventional cell culture. Specimens from the cervix of 148 women attending the Genitourinary Medicine Departments of the Middlesex Hospital and University College Hospital were examined. Two cotton tipped swabs were taken from the cervix, one was expressed into 2SP transport medium for chlamydial culture, and the other was used for immuno-assay. The order of taking the swabs was determined from a random number table. Chlamydial culture utilised cyclo-heximide treated McCoy cells, grown on glass coverslips in plastic vials. All specimens were inoculated in duplicate, and one of each pair sub