New Chlamydia Test Offers Rapid,
Pain-free Test For Men
A new urine
test developed with funding from the Wellcome Trust will allow doctors to
diagnose Chlamydia infection in men within the
hour, improving the ability to successfully treat the infection on the
spot and prevent re-transmission.
Chlamydia, caused by the bacterium
Chlamydia trachomatis, is the most common sexually-transmitted
bacterial infection in the UK,
particularly amongst sexually active men and women aged 16-24 years.
In the majority of cases, the disease is asymptomatic in both men
and women. If symptoms show, they may include discharge or pain when
passing urine for men. Recent research suggests that, if
untreated – even when no symptoms show – it may be a cause
of reduced fertility.
In women, it can lead to even more serious
complications, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pelvic pain and ectopic pregnancy.
In 2008, young people accounted for two thirds of all new
episodes of uncomplicated Chlamydia infections diagnosed in genitourinary
medicine clinics. In England, as many 68 young men in every
1,000 carry the infection; the figure is nearly 84 out of 1,000 for young
women. Since the mid-1990s, the number of diagnosed
infections has risen an average of 7,500 per year to over 123,000.
Once diagnosed, Chlamydia can be treated easily with a one-off
antibiotic pill. However, until now, male rapid tests for Chlamydia have
been relatively inaccurate and involved urethral swabs, which can
cause discomfort.
"Horror stories about painful swabs have put men off getting
tested for Chlamydia, and other non-invasive tests are expensive, technically
complex and take days to obtain the result," explains Dr Helen
Lee from the University of Cambridge. "This has led to many cases of
infection in men going undiagnosed and being transmitted to
their female partners, with potentially more serious complications."
The Chlamydia Rapid Test, a urine test developed by Dr Lee and
colleagues at Diagnostics for the Real World (DRW) and the University
of Cambridge, can be used with minimal training. It is designed
to be used in conjunction with FirstBurst, a device for collecting the first
voided urine from men. FirstBurst collects six times
the amount of Chlamydia bacteria compared to a standard urine sample. The test then
uses a unique signal amplification system
developed by DRW to boost the test's sensitivity and gives the results in less than an hour.
Today, the British Medical Journal publishes an evaluation† of
the test, which shows that it is significantly more accurate than existing urine-
based rapid tests. The researchers took samples from over
1,200 men at two clinical sites. They found that the test correctly identified
Chlamydia infection in 84.1% of samples, more
accurate than the nearest competitor rapid tests for men.
"Without an effective and rapid testing programme for men, we are
unlikely to succeed in efforts to control Chlamydia infection," says Dr
Lee. "This new test is both accurate and swift, allowing men
attending the clinics to be tested and treated on site in one visit."
The researchers also questioned participants about their
willingness to wait for the test result. The vast majority – 96% - said
they were
willing to wait an hour or more.
The Chlamydia Rapid Test has received regulatory approval and is
on the market in France, where it is used in clinics, and will shortly come
onto the market in Spain, Portugal, Italy and a number of
other European countries.
"If we are to stem the tide in the spread of Chlamydia, we have
to step up a gear in our ability to diagnose and treat this infection," says Dr
Ted Bianco, Director of the Wellcome Trust's Technology Transfer
Division, which funded the development of the test. "Right now, our
tests are too slow to permit on the spot treatment or too
insensitive to detect an adequate proportion of cases. The new assay offers a way
forward. Health authorities everywhere that are
serious about tackling Chlamydia need to put this 'test to the test' in the context of their
national programmes of control."
It is hoped that the new test will also be of particular use in
the developing world, where management of Chlamydia in men is often based
on self-diagnosis and specific diagnostic tests are rarely
available. A high prevalence of Chlamydia infection amongst sex workers in these
countries means that male customers are likely to
transmit infection to other sexual partners. The Chlamydia Rapid Test requires minimum
instrumentation and does not need to be carried out
by a medically-trained professional.
Courtesy of
http://www.sciencedaily.com
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