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Evaluation of: Roberts CH, Last A, Molina-Gonzalez S et al. Development and evaluation of a next-generation digital PCR diagnostic assay for ocular chlamydia trachomatis infections. J. Clin. Microbiol. 51(7), 2195-2203 (2013). Trachoma is the leading infectious cause of blindness in developing countries. Currently, there is no program to eliminate blinding trachoma as a public health problem. We need better diagnostic tests for research and to assess progress in control programs. Roberts et al. adapted droplet digital PCR (ddPCR), an emulsion PCR process that performs absolute quantitation of nucleic acids, to detect and quantify Chlamydia trachomatis infections. They compared the results with ddPCR on conjunctival swab specimens collected in trachoma-endemic area to results using Roche's Amplicor® C. trachomatis/ Neisseria gonorrhoeae (CT/NG) PCR and found that ddPCR sensitivity was 73.3%. The authors concluded that 'ddPCR is an effective diagnostic technology suitable for both research and clinical use in diagnosing ocular C. trachomatis infections'. This reviewer disagrees, feeling that if the stated sensitivity is accurate, it is too low, and suggests there may be good reasons to adapt commercially available tests for this purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The authors evaluated the use of conditional cash transfers as an HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention strategy to incentivise safe sex. Design: An unblinded, individually randomised and controlled trial. Setting: 10 villages within the Kilombero/Ulanga districts of the Ifakara Health and Demographic Surveillance System in rural south-west Tanzania. Participants: The authors enrolled 2399 participants, aged 18-30 years, including adult spouses. Interventions: Participants were randomly assigned to either a control arm (n=1124) or one of two intervention arms: low-value conditional cash transfer (eligible for $10 per testing round, n=660) and high-value conditional cash transfer (eligible for $20 per testing round, n=615). The authors tested participants every 4 months over a 12-month period for the presence of common sexually transmitted infections. In the intervention arms, conditional cash transfer payments were tied to negative sexually transmitted infection test results. Anyone testing positive for a sexually transmitted infection was offered free treatment, and all received counselling. Main outcome measures: The primary study end point was combined prevalence of the four sexually transmitted infections, which were tested and reported to subjects every 4 months: Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Trichomonas vaginalis and Mycoplasma genitalium. The authors also tested for HIV, herpes simplex virus 2 and syphilis at baseline and month 12. Results: At the end of the 12-month period, for the combined prevalence of any of the four sexually transmitted infections, which were tested and reported every 4 months (C trachomatis, N gonorrhoeae, T vaginalis and M genitalium), unadjusted RR for the high-value conditional cash transfer arm compared to controls was 0.80 (95% CI 0.54 to 1.06) and the adjusted RR was 0.73 (95% CI 0.47 to 0.99). Unadjusted RR for the high-value conditional cash transfer arm compared to the low-value conditional cash transfer arm was 0.76 (95% CI 0.49 to 1.03) and the adjusted RR was 0.69 (95% CI 0.45 to 0.92). No harm was reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twelve trachoma-hyperendemic communities were treated with 3 annual mass azithromycin distributions. Children aged 0-9 years were monitored 1 year following the third treatment. An RNA-based test detected ocular chlamydial infection in more children than did a DNA-based test (6.9% vs 4.2%), and in a larger number of communities (8 vs 7). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: An important component of the World Health Organization's comprehensive trachoma elimination strategy is the provision of repeated annual mass azithromycin distributions, which are directed at reducing the burden of ocular chlamydia. Knowledge of characteristics associated with infection after mass antibiotic treatments could allow trachoma programs to focus resources to those most likely to be infected with ocular chlamydia. Methodology/Principal Findings: We monitored 12 communities in rural Ethiopia that had received 3 annual mass azithromycin treatments as part of a cluster-randomized trial for trachoma. One year after the third treatment, a random sample of children from each village received conjunctival examination for follicular trachomatous inflammation (TF) and intense trachomatous inflammation (TI), conjunctival swabbing for chlamydial RNA and DNA, and a household survey. The primary outcome for this study was RNA evidence of ocular chlamydia, which we detected in 41 of 573 swabbed children (7.2%, 95%CI 2.7–17.8). In multivariate mixed effects logistic regression models, ocular chlamydial RNA was significantly associated with ocular discharge (OR 2.82, 95%CI 1.07–7.42), missing the most recent mass azithromycin treatment (OR 2.49, 95%CI 1.02–6.05), having a sibling with ocular chlamydia (OR 4.44, 95%CI 1.60–12.29), and above-median community population (OR 7.81, 95%CI 1.56–39.09). Ocular chlamydial infection was also independently associated with TF (OR 3.42, 95%CI 1.56–7.49) and TI (OR 5.39, 95%CI 2.43–11.98). Conclusions/Significance: In areas with highly prevalent trachoma treated with multiple rounds of mass azithromycin, trachoma programs could consider continuing mass azithromycin treatments in households that have missed prior mass antibiotic treatments, in households with clinically active trachoma, and in larger communities. Author Summary: Trachoma, which is the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide, is caused by repeated ocular infection with Chlamydia trachomatis. Treatment for trachoma includes mass azithromycin treatments to the entire community. The World Health Organization recommends at least 3 rounds of annual mass antibiotic distributions in areas with trachoma, with further mass treatments based on the prevalence of trachoma. However, there are other options for communities that have received several rounds of treatment. For example, programs could continue antibiotic treatments only in those households most likely to have infected individuals. In this study, we performed trachoma monitoring on children from 12 Ethiopian communities one year after a third mass azithromycin treatment, and conducted a household survey at the same time. We found that children were more likely to be infected with ocular chlamydia if they had ocular inflammatory signs or ocular discharge, or if they had missed the preceding antibiotic treatment, had an infected sibling, or came from a larger community. These risk factors suggest that after mass azithromycin treatments, trachoma programs could consider continuing antibiotic distributions to households that have missed prior antibiotic distributions, in households with children who have the clinical signs of trachoma, and in larger communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a research on nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) in the diagnosis of chlamydial and gonococcal infections of the oropharynx and rectum in men who have sex with men (MSM). It states that several NAATs are US Food and Drug Administration-cleared for identifying urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) infection. However, they have not been properly assessed for the relatively common oropharyngeal or rectal CT or GC infections in MSM. Multiple swabs were collected from the subject of this research. It was identified that APTIMA Combo 2 (AC2) and Becton Dickinson's ProbeTec (SDA) were superior to culture for the detection of CT or GC from the oropharynx and rectum.