Drug Resistance Test Offered For Sexually Transmitted Pathogen

Drug resistance testing has become an essential tool to assist clinicians in the selection of appropriate drug regimens for effective treatment.

A complimentary reflex test is being made available to determine azithromycin resistance to the most frequently reported sexually transmitted pathogen, Chlamydia trachomatis.

A molecular diagnostic sequencing assay that can detect these specific azithromycin-resistant C. trachomatis strains has been developed. A Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-certified infectious disease laboratory, which specializes in high complexity, state-of-the-art, automated DNA-based molecular analyses will perform the test. The azithromycin resistance reflex assay for C. trachomatis will be performed at no additional charge when C. trachomatis is detected in a patient's specimen.

Medical Diagnostic Laboratories (MDL; Hamilton, NJ, USA) developed the reflex test, and are performing the test as a complement for any positive C. trachomatis specimens that have been detected by company's real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic assay. Asymptomatic infections of Chlamydia are very common in both men and women and can therefore silently cause irreversible damage before symptoms are experienced or a proper diagnosis is made. In 2010, over 1.3 million chlamydial infections were reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; Atlanta, GA, USA) from 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Eli Mordechai, PhD, CEO and founder of MDL, said, "The molecular-based testing that we have developed can discriminate between antibiotic susceptible and resistant infections. This information allows a physician, at the time of diagnosis, to provide the most rapid and cost-effective treatment to their patients. MDL is the only laboratory to now offer molecular diagnostic antibiotic resistance testing at no additional charge for three of the most common sexually transmitted diseases: Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Trichomonas vaginalis, and now for the first time, Chlamydia trachomatis."

Related Links:

Medical Diagnostic Laboratories

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention