DETECTION OF CHLAMYDIA-TRACHOMATIS IN SEMEN OF ARTIFICIAL-INSEMINATION DONORS BY THE POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION

Objective: To assess the feasibility of detecting Chlamydia trachomati s in cryopreserved donor semen by a specific, direct polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Design: Cryopreserved donor semen was tested for the p resence of C. trachomatis by a specific PCR, directly applied to semen without prior DNA purification.Setting: Tertiary care fertility cente r in a teaching hospital and university-based laboratory for molecular pathology. Participants: Cryopreserved semen from 30 donors was inves tigated. These semen samples had previously given negative results in cell culture for C. trachomatis. Two different ejaculates of each dono r, cryopreserved with an interval of 2 years, were retrospectively ana lyzed. Interventions: None. Main Outcome Measure: The presence of C. t rachomatis as demonstrated by PCR. Results: In 3 of 30 donors C. trach omatis was detected in both ejaculates, whereas in 2 additional donors only one of the two samples tested positive. Additional samples from 2 positive donors, together with samples from 3 negative donors, were studied more extensively, to test the reproducibility and reliability of PCR results. All ejaculates of the donors, previously positive for C. trachomatis by PCR, indeed appeared to be positive, whereas the sam ples of the negative donors remained negative. Conclusions: The direct PCR is a reliable, sensitive, and valuable method for detection of C. trachomatis in semen. The incidence of contamination of donor semen w ith C. trachomatis in the donor population in this study stresses the need for rigorous screening of donor semen before artificial inseminat ion, preferably using a sensitive method such as the PCR.