Cervicovaginal cytology and the diagnosis of Chlamydia trachomatis: a comparison with immunofluorescent results.

To evaluate the accuracy of a Chlamydia diagnosis in our laboratory, cytologic Chlamydia diagnoses for the years 1990 and 1991 were compared with immunofluorescent studies for Chlamydia for the same period. Only one of 22 cases diagnosed cytologically as suggestive of Chlamydia had a positive immunofluorescent result. On rescreen of 110 cervicovaginal smears taken within 1 mo of a positive fluorescent antibody test, 11 cases were found to contain criteria suggestive of Chlamydia. These correlations represent a 4.5% specificity and 10% sensitivity rate, suggesting that our current efforts in cytology are not effective in determining the presence of Chlamydia.