REVIEW ARTICLE Guidelines for the laboratory diagnosis of Chlamydia trachomatis infections in East European countries M Domeika, †, * A Savicheva, ‡ E Sokolovskiy, § N Frigo, – T Brilene,** A Halle ´ n, †† M Unemo, ‡‡ RC Ballard, §§ M Ward, –– EE SRH Network*** † Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden ‡ Microbiology Laboratory, DO Ott Institute for Obstetrics and Gynecology RAMS, St. Petersburg, Russia § Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Pavlov State Medical University, St. Petersburg, Russia – Microbiology Laboratory, Central Institute for Skin and Venereal Diseases, Moscow, Russia **Biomedical Centre, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia †† Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden ‡‡ Department of Clinical Microbiology, O ¨ rebro University Hospital, O ¨ rebro, Sweden §§ National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA –– Emeritus Professor of Medical Microbiology, Southampton University *Correspondence: M Domeika. E-mail: marius.domeika@medsci.uu.se Abstract The present guidelines aim to provide comprehensive information regarding the laboratory diagnosis of infections caused by Chlamydia trachomatis in East European countries. These recommendations contain important information for laboratory staff working with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and/or STI-related issues. Individual East European countries may be required to make minor national adjustments to these guidelines as a result of lack of accessibility to some reagents or equipment, or laws in a specific country. Received: 9 December 2008; Accepted 20 April 2009 Keywords Chlamydia trachomatis, Eastern Europe, guidelines, laboratory diagnosis Conflicts of interest None declared. Introduction The present guidelines aim to provide comprehensive informa tion regarding chlamydial sexually transmitted infection (STI) and the corresponding laboratory diagnosis for East European countries. In many East European countries, commercial kits, that are frequently available in the west, are often not affordable and often the tests used have not been validated against internationally accepted standards. These guidelines are primarily intended for professionals testing specimens from patients at a sexual health care clinic but may also be helpful for community based screening programmes. The guidelines represent the first attempt to introduce an evidence-based approach to the diagnosis of chlamydial infections in Eastern Europe It is recognized that, for different East European countries, minor national adjustments to these guidelines may be needed to meet local laws, health strategies and the availability of kits and reagents. The present guidelines were elaborated as a consensus document of the Eastern European Sexual and Reproductive Health Network 1 and comprise one element of a series of guidelines aimed at optimization, standard ization, and quality assurance of the laboratory diagnosis of the reproductive tract infections. 2–4 Chlamydia trachomatis is a major cause of genital tract infections among sexually active adolescents and young persons. 5 It has been reported that pelvic inflammatory disease may occur in £ 40% of women with untreated C. trachomatis genital tract infection 6,7 with a significant but uncertain number developing tubal factor infertility, ectopic pregnancy or chronic pelvic pain. 8 ***Karen Babayan (Armenia), Rashid Ismailov (Azerbadjan), Iryna Shimanskaya, Oleg Pankratov, Larisa Zhurauskaya, Oxana Kudina (Belarus), Krasimira Chudomirova (Bulgaria), George Galdava, Oleg Kvivlidze (Georgia), Judith Deak (Hungary), Gulsum Askarova, Almagul Karibajeva (Kazakhstan), Dilara Uusupova, Nadegda Danilenko (Kyrgyzstan), Andris Rubins, Ilze Jacobsone, Judite Pirsko (Latvia), Vesta Kucinskiene, (Lithuania), Elena Shipitsyna, Andrej Ignatovskiy, Alexandr Guschin, Sergey Sidorenko, (Russia), Abbos Kasimov, Olim Kasimov (Tajikistan), Gennadij Mavrov, Natalya Kochetova (Ukraine), Sharof Ibragimov, Olga Izvekova (Uzbekistan). ª 2009 The Authors JEADV 2009, 23, 1353–1363 Journal compilation ª 2009 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-3083.2009.03328.x JEADV