الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common sexually transmitted bacterial infection, with over 90 million new infections occurring annually worldwide.In women, 75% of Chlamydia infections are asymptomatic and can lead to PID, infertility and ectopic pregnancy. Treatment is often delayed, leading to an increased risk of complications and transmission to the other partner. Early diagnosis is mandatory to avoid serious complications especially with the development of effective treatment.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of different laboratory techniques used for diagnosis of genital Chlamydia infection, and to correlate the laboratory findings with the clinical data of the studied cases.This study was conducted on 70 female patients who were selected from those attending Outpatient Gynecology Clinic, Mansoura University.Conclusions:
Tissue culture is the most specific test for C.Tr. diagnosis, however it is meticulous, time consuming, and costly.Immunofluorescence staining with anti-MOMP monoclonal antibodies is the method of choice for detecting Chlamydia inclusions in cell culture. Direct fluorescent antigen detection is specific, simple, and less expensive, but not suitable for a large numbers of specimens. It could be used for follow up of cases. Giemsa stain of the inoculated McCoy cells was more sensitive than iodine for the detection of C.Tr. Antigen detection by ELISA is useful for high -volume screening and can provide results with a shorter turnaround time than culture, however the need for a confirmatory test is mandatory. PCR assay is simple to perform, requires less technical expertise, rapid, sensitive, specific, and suitable for processing a large number of specimens, so it could be a good confirmatory test.