Vaginal swabs alone may not be sufficient

EDITOR—Gilson and Mindel in their article on recent advances in the management of sexually transmitted infections emphasised some important diagnostic issues.1 As Gilson and Mindel say, many studies have shown that DNA amplification tests are now the gold standard for the diagnosis of genital Chlamydia trachomatis. But we are concerned with the unreferenced statement that a vaginal swab is a better alternative for the detection of genital chlamydial infection.

We found two studies that have examined the utility of vaginal swabs, collected either by healthcare personnel or patients themselves. 2 3 Both found high sensitivity for vaginal swabs, but this was matched by the sensitivity …