Effect of Endocervical-Specimen Adequacy on Detection of Chlamydia trachomatis by the APTIMA COMBO 2 Assay

Abstract

Six hundred one endocervical specimens were analyzed for Chlamydia trachomatis by the APTIMA Combo 2 assay and evaluated for columnar epithelial cell adequacy by direct fluorescent-antibody staining. With 5.5% positive adequate and 7.8% positive inadequate specimens (P ‫؍‬ 0.27), the study suggested no difference in positivity rates due to specimen adequacy when this amplified technology was used.