[The Comparison of Real-Time PCR and bacterial culture in laboratory diagnostics of gonorrhoea in patients of Department of Dermatology and Venereology Medical University of Warsaw].

Introduction: Gonorrhoea is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the world. Fast and effective laboratory diagnostics of the infection is very important. The aim of the study was to compare Real-Time PCR and bacterial culture in diagnostics of Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections in patients of Department of Dermatology and Venereology Medical University of Warsaw.

Methods: The urethral, cervical, anal and pharyngeal specimens from 93 patients of Department of Dermatology and Venereology Medical University of Warsaw were examined by two methods. The bacterial culture was performed on chocolate agar plates with antibiotics in the 5% CO2 atmosphere at 37°C. N. gonorrhoeae was identified by colony-morphology, Gram stain and oxidase reaction, followed by carbohydrate utilization test. The DNA Bact Extra Pure Kit (Euroclone®) to isolate DNA was used. Real-Time PCR DUPLICα® Real-Time Neisseria gonorrhoeae 2nd Generation Detection Kit (Euroclone®) was performed using Smart Cycler® Dx.

Results: In 85.9% of results of Real-Time PCR and culture were identical. The remaining 14.1% of samples were culture negative and PCR positive. The results ofthe Real-Time PCR and culture were more often concordant in the case of samples obtained from men (96.8%) than from woman (85%). In patients after treatment with antibiotics the concordance of the results obtained with these two methods was 81%.

Conclusions: In laboratory diagnostics of N. gonorrhoeae infections, Real-Time PCR was more sensitive than the culture, but in some cases it was less specific.