RAPID DETECTION OF CHLAMYDIA ANTIGEN

WITH THE RAPID RISE OF CHLAMYDIAL TRACHOMATIS INFECTIONS TO AN EPIDEMIC STATE OF THREE TO TEN MILLION CASES PER YEAR, THERE IS SIGNIFICANT NEED FOR A RAPID INFECTION DETECTION METHOD THAT CAN BE INEXPENSIVELY PERFORMED ON SMEARS FROM CLINICAL SPECIMENS. PRIOR TO 1983, THE DIAGNOSIS OF THIS DISEASE WAS EXPENSIVE AND TIME CONSUMING, AS THE PREFERRED METHOD WAS ISOLATION IN TISSUE CULTURE. TWO NEW DIAGNOSTIC METHODS, ENZYME IMMUNOASSAY AND IMMUNOFLUORESCENT ASSAYS, ARE PRESENTLY COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE BUT LACK EASE AND SPEED OF PERFORMANCE, AS THEY REQUIRE HIGHLY TRAINED INDIVIDUALS AND EXPENSIVE INSTRUMENTATION. PHOTEC DIAGNOSTICS, INC. HAS DEVELOPED A NOVEL ASSAY WHICH IS RAPID, INEXPENSIVE, AND EASY TO PERFORM. PRESENTLY THIS METHODOLOGY HAS BEEN APPLIED TO A SANDWICH APOPROTEIN A-1 TEST, WHICH UTILIZES A TABLET CONTAINING A COVALENTLY BOUND CAPTURE ANTIBODY AND A DYE-LABELED ANTIBODY. PHOTEC HAS DEVELOPED DYE POLYMER LABELS WHICH CAN POTENTIALLY INCREASE THE SENSITIVITY OF THE PROCEDURE TESTED WITH APOPROTEIN A-1 TO THE LEVEL NEEDED FOR CHLAMYDIA ANTIGEN. THE COMBINATION OF DYE POLYMER LABELS AND A TABLETED SOLID PHASE SUPPORT WHICH SPONTANEOUSLY SETTLES IN THE REACTION TUBE ALLOWS THE DEVELOPMENT OF INEXPENSIVE, RAPID DIAGNOSTICTESTS WHICH CAN BE READ IN "TUBE" PHOTOMETERS.