Fifer & Ison (STIs) express concern over the use of the “dual” nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) for the detection of chlamydia and gonorrhoea in the context of chlamydia screening in the UK. Additional testing for gonorrhoea, when the real target is chlamydia, does not necessarily confer an additional net benefit. This is because even […]
Category: Diagnostics
“Fast-tracking” the end of the HIV epidemic
At a high-level event on the margin of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York last month, convened with the support of UNAIDS, world leaders agreed that ending the AIDS epidemic as a global threat by 2030 was possible, and should be placed at the centre of health development goals. The brochure, Fast Track […]
Prospects for a high sensitivity point-of-care test for Chlamydia
A recent paper (Krölov&Langel) describes a technique for the diagnosis of Chlamydia trachomatis which, if developed into a point-of-care test (POCT), could be performed in just twenty minutes and would achieve a considerably greater sensitivity (83%) than any of the POCT alternatives to the current laboratory testing process using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The technique […]