Mary Bridget Waters, Kevin Hybiske, Ren Ikeda, Bernhard Kaltenboeck, Lisa E Manhart, Kristen M Kreisel, Christine M Khosropour
{"title":"Chlamydia trachomatis seroassays used in epidemiologic research: a narrative review and practical considerations","authors":"Mary Bridget Waters, Kevin Hybiske, Ren Ikeda, Bernhard Kaltenboeck, Lisa E Manhart, Kristen M Kreisel, Christine M Khosropour","doi":"10.1093/infdis/jiae199","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) is a sexually transmitted infection that can lead to adverse reproductive health outcomes. CT prevalence estimates are primarily derived from screening using nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs). However, screening guidelines in the United States only include particular subpopulations, and NAATs only detect current infections. In contrast, seroassays identify past CT infections which are important for understanding the public health impacts of CT, including pelvic inflammatory disease and tubal factor infertility. Older seroassays have been plagued by low sensitivity and specificity and have not been validated using a consistent reference measure, making it challenging to compare studies, define the epidemiology of CT and determine the effectiveness of control programs. Newer seroassays have better performance characteristics. This narrative review summarizes the “state of the science” for CT seroassays that have been applied in epidemiologic studies and provides practical considerations for interpreting the literature and employing seroassays in future research.","PeriodicalId":501010,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of Infectious Diseases","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"The Journal of Infectious Diseases","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiae199","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) is a sexually transmitted infection that can lead to adverse reproductive health outcomes. CT prevalence estimates are primarily derived from screening using nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs). However, screening guidelines in the United States only include particular subpopulations, and NAATs only detect current infections. In contrast, seroassays identify past CT infections which are important for understanding the public health impacts of CT, including pelvic inflammatory disease and tubal factor infertility. Older seroassays have been plagued by low sensitivity and specificity and have not been validated using a consistent reference measure, making it challenging to compare studies, define the epidemiology of CT and determine the effectiveness of control programs. Newer seroassays have better performance characteristics. This narrative review summarizes the “state of the science” for CT seroassays that have been applied in epidemiologic studies and provides practical considerations for interpreting the literature and employing seroassays in future research.