Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Short report
Self-collected swabs of the urinary meatus diagnose more Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections than first catch urine from men
  1. Max A Chernesky1,
  2. Dan Jang1,
  3. Eder Portillo1,
  4. Marek Smieja1,
  5. Jodi Gilchrist1,
  6. Ruth Ewert2,
  7. Cindy MacRitchie3
  1. 1St Joseph's Healthcare/McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
  2. 2Department of Health Clinic, Evergreen Centre for Street Youth, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  3. 3Hamilton Community Health Center, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
  1. Correspondence to Professor Max A Chernesky, St Joseph's Healthcare, 50 Charlton Ave. E., Hamilton, ON, Canada L8N 4A6; chernesk{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Objectives To compare first catch urine (FCU) and self-collected urinary meatal swabs for the detection of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) using the APTIMA Combo 2 assay.

Methods A total of 511 young men from a high risk street youth clinic were studied. Group A (n=293) collected a FCU and a meatal APTIMA swab followed by Group B (n=218) who collected a FCU and two meatal samples using an APTIMA swab and a flocked swab. Order of sample collection was alternated. Individuals in Group B rated collection as easy, difficult or neither, then expressed a preference for sampling and swab type. All subjects performed meatal self-collection in the presence of a study monitor.

Results The combined CT prevalence was 7.8% and 2.7% for NG where 80% of the men were without symptoms. Meatal swabbing identified 35 cases of CT and 14 cases of NG compared to 33 and 11 for FCU. Flocked and APTIMA swabs were equally effective in detecting more cases. The majority of men found self-collection of meatal swabs and urine to be easy. Although 63% preferred urine sampling, 60% of those who preferred swabbing selected the flocked swab.

Conclusions Collection of meatal swabs could serve as an alternative to urethral swabbing and FCU for the detection of CT and NG.

  • Chlamydia Trachomatis
  • Diagnosis
  • Neisseria Gonorrhoea
  • Molecular Techniques

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.