Reactivity of the limulus lysate assay with uterine cervical secretions. A preliminary evaluation.

A limulus lysate assay was performed on cervical secretions from 66 women. When secretions were tested at a 1/100 dilution the assay gave a positive result in 15 (62.5%) of 24 patients with gonorrhoea confirmed by Gram-stained smear or culture or both. When secretions from seven of the nine remaining patients who had gonorrhoea but negative results to the limulus lysate test were retested at 1/50 dilution, two gave a positive result, increasing the positivity rate of the test to 17 (70.8%) of 24 infected patients. Material from one patient with a history of contact with gonorrhoea and from three (7.3%) of the other 41 patients without any history of gonorrhoea gave positive reactions.