Evaluation of the Abbott LCx Assay for Detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Endocervical Swab Specimens from Females |
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| Authors: | Sue C Kehl Kristina Georgakas Geoffrey R Swain Gerald Sedmak Stephen Gradus Ajaib Singh and Seth Foldy |
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| Institution: | Departments of Pathology1. and Family and Community Medicine,3. Medical College of Wisconsin, United/Dynacare Laboratories,2. and City of Milwaukee Health Department,4. Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
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| Abstract: | The Abbott LCx Neisseria gonorrhoeae assay (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Ill.) uses a ligase chain reaction (LCR) amplification in the LCx probe system for detection of a specific nucleotide sequence in the Opa-encoding gene of N. gonorrhoeae. We evaluated the LCx assay in a comparison with conventional culture employing modified Thayer-Martin media for the detection of N. gonorrhoeae from female endocervical specimens obtained from patients attending a sexually transmitted disease clinic. Discordantly LCR-positive and culture-negative specimens were further evaluated by testing with another LCR assay which used an N. gonorrhoeae-specific pilin probe. Specimens positive by both LCR assays were considered confirmed LCx-positive specimens. A specimen was considered to contain N. gonorrhoeae when it was either culture positive or culture negative and confirmed LCx positive. A total of 403 female endocervical specimens were evaluated. The prevalence of N. gonorrhoeae in this population was 8.7%. The sensitivity and specificity of the LCx assay were 94.3 and 99.4%, and those of culture were 77.1 and 100%, respectively. The Abbott LCx assay is a rapid, sensitive method for detection of N. gonorrhoeae in female endocervical specimens. |
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