[Direct identification of Chlamydia trachomatis using fluorescent monoclonal antibodies in infections of the lower urogenital tract].

Direct identification of Chlamydia trachomatis with fluorescent monoclonal antibodies in smears was recently introduced for a rapid diagnosis of lower urogenital tract infections. In the present study the performance of this method was compared with that of the classical cell culture procedure with McCoy cells and iodine staining on 880 clinical specimens (table I). One hundred and twenty specimens in which one of the two methods failed for technical reasons are therefore not available for comparison. Among the remaining 760 specimens there was agreement between the two methods in 724 (95 p. 100). The sensitivity of direct identification was 85 p. 100, its specificity 97 p. 100 (table II). Our results are comparable to those reported in the literature and confirm that direct identification of Chlamydia trachomatis with fluorescent monoclonal antibodies is a useful, reasonably sensitive method for rapid diagnosis of this infection. Failures, which are relatively frequent (8 p. 100 in our series), are mostly due to inadequate specimen collection, the smears containing no epithelial cell.