COMPARATIVE STUDY OF IMMUNOLOGICAL METHODS FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF CHLAMYDIA TRACHOMATIS IN WOMEN WITH CERVICITIS AND INFERTILITY

We have evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of three ELISA tests (IgM, IgG, IgA) and rapid test in detecting C. trachomatisby comparing with direct immunofluorescence (DIF), which is used as a gold standard. Blood samples and endocervical swabs of 100suspectedfemales and 10 healthy women were collected. All sera were tested for chlamydial antibodies of the IgG, IgM and IgA classes by ELISA. Swabs were tested by Rapid test and DIFfor detection of C. trachomatis antigen. Among 100 patients that were included in the study, 46 (46%) women with infertility and 4 (4%) with cervicitis were positive for chlamydia according to the standard method (DIF).None of the healthy women was positive. When compared to DIF results; the ELISA (IgM, IgG, IgA) and rapid test results showed noteworthy differences in the major performance characteristics. The sensitivity of IgM, IgA, IgG and Rapid test was(66, 62, 48, and 24%),specificity (96, 96, 92, and 94%), positive predictive values (94.3, 93.3, 58.7, and 80%),negative predictive values (73.8, 71.6, 63.9, and 55.3%)and Area Under a Curve (0.81, 0.81, 0.7, 0.59.3%) respectively.The results concluded that DIF, IgM, and IgA are valuable techniques to diagnose chlamydial infections. On the other hand, under the conditions of our study, the results suggested that IgG and rapid test are not reliable for diagnosis of chlamydial infections.