Pap smear and Chlamydia.

I have read the recent publication by Ujević et al. with great interest (1). The authors concluded that “Pap smear was not specifi c enough to demonstrate chlamydial infection (1)”. Indeed, the high prevalence of chlamydial infection among working women has been confi rmed in several settings around the world. Pap smear is a recommended routine test for these working women. However, there have been reports of problematic screening for microorganisms, not only for Chlamydia spp, with pap smear (2). Several new attempts have been made to cope with this problem. For chlamydial infection, there are several new alternatives including a PCR-based test and ThinPrep pap test with confi rmed good diagnostic properties (34). Application of these new tests in working women should be based on cost effectiveness. REFERENCES