Vaginal swabs are appropriate specimens for the diagnosis of genital tract infection with Chlamydia trachomatis

Objectives. Self-administered vaginal swabs were used to determine the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis in a population under 25 years of age in order to evaluate if this is an acceptable and accurate method compared to the traditional cervical swabs. Methods. Patients were asked to perform a double self-administered vaginal swab prior to a traditional cervical swab. One self-collected vaginal swab was used with the AMPLIFIED CT DNA PROBING (GENPROBE bioMérieux) method that is based on a DNA probe against an amplified target for the identification of the Chlamydia trachomatis ribosomal RNA. The remaining two swabs were processed using BD PROBETEC ET (Becton Dickinson) for the determination of amplified DNA, using standard displacement amplification technology. Results. 8.2% of the 182 patients that were analysed between September 2005 and March 2006 tested positive. The two methods had an equivalent sensitivity and a specificity. It is important to concentrate prevention on young females who may have greater contacts with local specialists and could benefit from the self-administered vaginal swab technique.