NONINVASIVE SAMPLING FOR DETECTION OF GENITAL-INFECTION WITH CHLAMYDIA-TRACHOMATIS IN MALES UTILIZING URINARY LEUKOCYTE ESTERASE TESTS AND IMMUNOASSAYS

First-void urine specimens from 224 male recruits and 443 patients of venereal disease clinics without complaints of symptoms of urethritis were collected. Urinary leukocyte esterase test, two enzyme immunoassa ys (EIAs: Syva MicroTrak and Orion), a chemi luminometric assay (Magic Lite) and Syva's MicroTrak direct immunofluorescence test were used. The prevalence of chlamydial urethritis in the study population as det ermined by direct immunofluorescence test of first-void urine in the m ilitary recruits and venereal disease patients was 1.3% and 6.3%, resp ectively. The denominator used for calculation of sensitivities was th e Sum of patients with positive test results in at least two of the di fferent test systems used. The sensitivities of first-void urine were 100% for Syva EIA, 96.7% for Orion ELA and 86.7% for the chemiluminome tric assay. All assays proved highly specific (99.5-99.7%). Compared w ith direct immunofluorescence test of first-void urine, the urine leuk ocyte esterase test had a sensitivity of 93.6% and a specificity of 94 .3%. The study showed that the urine leukocyte esterase test is an eff ective method to detect males infected by Chlamydia trachomatis.