BACKGROUND Self-obtained penile-meatal swabs and urine specimens have been used for Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) and Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) for outreach screening in men. OBJECTIVE To compare the sensitivity of self-collected male penile-meatal swabs and urine for the detection of CT, NG and TV. METHODS Matching penile-meatal swabs and urines were collected at ...

The fully automated COBAS AMPLICOR CT/NG and semiautomated AMPLICOR CT/NG tests were evaluated in a multicenter trial for the ability to detect Chlamydia trachomatis infections. Test performance compared to that of culture was evaluated for 2,236 matched endocervical swab and urine specimens obtained from women and for 1,940 matched urethral swab and urine specimens obtained from men. Culture-n...

BACKGROUND Nasopharyngeal (NP) specimens are commonly used for the detection of respiratory viruses, but throat and saliva specimens are easier to obtain. The objective of this study was to compare the viral yield of direct fluorescent antigen detection of NP specimens and nucleic acid amplification tests (NAT) of direct fluorescent antigen-negative NP specimens with the viral yield of NAT of t...

Objectives: A multi-site study evaluated the clinical performance of the Roche LightCycler PCR assay in the detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in comparison to routine chromogenic agar culture method (BD BBL CHROMagar II). Two other variables were also investigated: to establish if screening the throat increases the detection rate of MRSA colonisation; and, to deter...

BACKGROUND Our aim was to evaluate the clinical impact of routine amniotic fluid and neonatal surface swab microbiology at Caesarean section. MATERIALS AND METHODS Microbiology data from 1 537 neonates delivered by Caesarean section were analysed in the light of clinical outcome. RESULTS 1 340 (87%) neonates had non-pathogenic bacteria or negative culture results from both amniotic fluid an...

Cattle are considered as one of the sources of pathogenic E. coli worldwide. The present study was designed to determine the prevalence and identification of the E. coli isolated from rectal swab of apparently healthy cattle in Mymensingh, Bangladesh. A total of 128 rectal swab samples were assessed by cultural, morphological and biochemical examination followed by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PC...

Streptococcus equi is the etiologic agent of a highly infectious upper respiratory disease of horses known as strangles. Bacterial culture methods and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of nasopharyngeal washes and guttural pouch lavages are used routinely to test clinical and carrier animals for the presence of S. equi but no definitive or gold standard test method has been shown to be optimal. W...

OBJECTIVE To assess sexually active adolescents' attitudes toward 3 screening collection techniques for detection of Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Trichomonas vaginalis using first-void urine (FVU), self-collected vaginal swab specimens, and pelvic examination with clinician-collected endocervical swab specimens. DESIGN Participants completed a preexamination health survey...