Monoclonal antibodies for the diagnosis of sexually transmitted diseases.

Monoclonal antibodies are already being used for the diagnosis of human sexually transmitted diseases. These antibodies can be used to detect a wide range of microorganisms, including bacteria, parasites, and viruses. For both culture and direct tests, monoclonal antibodies showed patterns of specificity and reproducibility that exceeded those available with conventionally prepared antisera. The direct tests for these organisms required less than an hour to perform, representing a major advancement in a diagnosis that previously required 2 to 6 days of culture followed by confirmatory testing. Furthermore, rapid differential diagnosis of infection will now be possible. Because some sexually transmitted diseases may be transmitted simultaneously and share similar clinical manifestations (that is, gonorrhea and chlamydia in cervicitis or urethritis, syphilis or herpes in genital ulcers), it will be possible to differentiate a single from a multiple infection by simultaneous testing of direct samples with the appropriate monoclonal antibody reagents.