New Roche Chlamydia Test Approved for Use in Euro...( Test offers more reliable detectio...),Health

Test offers more reliable detection of Chlamydia trachomatis, the most

commonly reported sexually transmitted disease in Europe.

PLEASANTON, Calif., June 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Roche announced today that its new test for detection of Chlamydia trachomatis has received CE Mark certification, allowing it to be sold for clinical use in the European Union. It is designed with a dual target approach to help ensure reliability of test results even when mutations occur in the bacteria's cryptic plasmid DNA. According to Eurosurveillance, a leading independent scientific journal, Chlamydia trachomatis is the most commonly reported sexually transmitted disease in Europe. Although it often causes no symptoms, Chlamydia can, if left untreated, lead to complications such as pelvic inflammatory disease or infertility in women.

"Unexpected mutations in the DNA of an infectious agent such as Chlamydia can disrupt laboratory testing and, by extension, proper treatment of patients," said Teresa L. Wright, M.D., O.B.E., Chief Medical Officer at Roche Molecular Diagnostics. "Because it is impossible to predict when these mutations will occur, we have designed this test to detect all Chlamydia strains that may cause a deletion in the cryptic plasmid, including the variant originally detected in Sweden in 2006."

Chlamydia trachomatis is often referred to as a "silent" sexually transmitted disease because approximately three quarters of infected women have no symptoms. Once detected, Chlamydia trachomatis can easily be treated with antibiotics. If left untreated, health risks can include chronic pelvic pain, pelvic inflammatory disease, potentially fatal ectopic pregnancy, increased risk of HIV infection if exposed, and infertility.

The highly sensitive and reliable COBAS(R) TaqMan(R) CT Test v2.0 simultaneously detects two targets within the C. trachomatis cryptic plasmid and genome target DNA. In contrast to earlier generation tests, the COBAS(R
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