ABSTRACT
Background: The World Health Organization has stated that sexually transmitted diseases [STDs] rank second in importance after cancer as treatable diseases in women. Chlamydia trachomatis is one of the most important sexually transmitted diseases in terms of incidence, prevalence of serious complications. The nucleic acid amplification techniques [NAATs], which have become the method of choice have high sensitivity and specificity and are considered to be a more suitable method either for screening or diagnosing chlamydial infections
Aim of the study: compare 2 sets of primers in the diagnosis of C. trachomatis endocervicitis by performing PCR with primers directed against the MOMP and endogenous plasmid
Materials and Methods: endocervical swabs from 50 patients [patients group] and 25 females [control group], the Total DNA was extracted and multiplex PCR technique was done to diagnose C. trachomatis by using 2 different sets of primers to amplify genes of against the MOMP and endogenous plasmid
Results: 58% of the patients group had C. trachomatis infection by plasmid-based PCR assay and 50% had C. trachomatis by MOMP-based PCR assay; while only 12% of the control group had C. trachomatis by the 2 technique. IUD was the most important risk factor of C. trachomatis endocervicitis and the infection usually tend to occur in the females between 20-30years old
Conclusion; PCR directed against the endogenous plasmid is superior sensitivity in comparison with PCR directed against Major Outer Membrane Protein [MOMP] gene of C. trachomatis; so plasmid-based PCR the best candidate for use in the detection ofC. trachomatis in cervical smears?