Rapid diagnosis of Chlamydia trachomatis infections by a monoclonal antibody direct immunofluorescence test.

A direct immunofluorescence test on 387 clinical specimens from diverse patient populations with varying prevalence rates was evaluated for the rapid diagnosis of chlamydial infections using fluorescein-labelled monoclonal antibodies for Chlamydia trachomatis. Comparative testing with the conventional cell culture indicated an overall agreement of 98.5% between the two tests and a sensitivity of 92.6%, specificity of 98.4% for the direct IF test. In high prevalence settings the direct IF could undoubtedly be used as a suitable alternative for the definitive, rapid diagnosis of chlamydial infections. In low prevalence patient populations involving primarily asymptomatic patients, sensitivity of 87.5% and specificity of 97.4% being found indicate the potential usefulness of this rapid performed test but with caution in such settings.