China Bernard, Vernelen Kris
Quality of Medical Laboratories, Scientific Institute of Public Health, J. Wytsman 14, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
J Sex Transm Dis. 2015;2015:835261. doi: 10.1155/2015/835261. Epub 2015 Jun 25.
Chlamydia trachomatis is a major cause of sexually transmitted bacterial disease worldwide. C. trachomatis is an intracellular bacterium and its growth in vitro requires cell culture facilities. The diagnosis is based on antigen detection and more recently on molecular nucleic acid amplification techniques (NAAT) that are considered fast, sensitive, and specific. In Belgium, External Quality Assessment (EQA) for the detection of C. trachomatis in urine by NAAT was introduced in 2008. From January 2008 to June 2012, nine surveys were organized. Fifty-eight laboratories participated in at least one survey. The EQA panels included positive and negative samples. The overall accuracy was 75.4%, the overall specificity was 97.6%, and the overall sensitivity was 71.4%. Two major issues were observed: the low sensitivity (45.3%) for the detection of low concentration samples and the incapacity of several methods to detect the Swedish variant of C. trachomatis. The reassuring point was that the overall proficiency of the Belgian laboratories tended to improve over time.
沙眼衣原体是全球性传播细菌性疾病的主要病因。沙眼衣原体是一种细胞内细菌，其体外生长需要细胞培养设施。诊断基于抗原检测，最近基于分子核酸扩增技术（NAAT），该技术被认为快速、灵敏且特异。在比利时，2008年引入了通过NAAT检测尿液中沙眼衣原体的外部质量评估（EQA）。从2008年1月至2012年6月，组织了九次调查。58个实验室至少参加了一次调查。EQA样本包括阳性和阴性样本。总体准确率为75.4%，总体特异性为97.6%，总体灵敏度为71.4%。观察到两个主要问题：检测低浓度样本的灵敏度较低（45.3%）以及几种方法无法检测沙眼衣原体的瑞典变种。令人欣慰的是，比利时实验室的总体水平随着时间的推移趋于提高。
