EVALUATION OF A NEW OPTICAL IMMUNOASSAY FOR DIAGNOSIS OF NEONATAL CHLAMYDIAL CONJUNCTIVITIS

The BioStar OIA Chlamydia test (BioStar, Inc., Boulder, Colo.) is a no vel immunoassay system that uses changes in reflection of light to dir ectly detect chlamydial antigen in clinical specimens. We compared the optical immunoassay (OIA) with culture for detecting Chlamydia tracho matis in ocular specimens from infants with suspected chlamydial conju nctivitis. We initially performed a retrospective evaluation, testing 152 ocular specimens previously collected for culture with the OIA. Th e sensitivity and specificity were 94.2 and 97%, respectively. A subse quent prospective study evaluating 37 ocular specimens from infants wi th suspected C. trachomatis conjunctivitis revealed a sensitivity and specificity of 100 and 92.6%, respectively.