How to check for non-gonococcal urethritis in women

Diseases will have a great impact on people's lives and work, and some diseases not only affect life and work, but also seriously damage the harmony of family relationships, such as non-gonococcal urethritis in women. This disease is highly contagious and causes particularly serious physical and mental harm to the patient. So, how to check for non-gonococcal urethritis in women? Please see the following introduction for the method used to examine this disease.

Non-gonococcal urethritis is a syndrome with multiple causes, and the pathogens are mostly chlamydia, mycoplasma, Trichomonas, herpes virus, Candida, etc. 30% to 50% of non-gonococcal urethritis is related to Chlamydia trachomatis, 20% to 30% is caused by ureaplasma urealyticum infection, and 10% is caused by microorganisms such as Trichomonas vaginalis, Candida albicans, herpes simplex virus, Mycoplasma genitalium, adenovirus and Bacillus. Chlamydia and mycoplasma have weak resistance to the external environment and can be killed by heating at 56 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes. Commonly used disinfectants such as formalin, Lysol, and carbolic acid can also easily kill them.

1. Direct Immunofluorescence

Specific chlamydia monoclonal antibodies are labeled with fluorescein and then used to detect chlamydia antigens in the specimen. If chlamydia is present in the specimen, it will bind to the antibody and apple green fluorescence will be visible under a fluorescent microscope. A smear is positive when the number of chlamydia is more than 10. The specificity is >97% and the sensitivity is 70% to 92%.

2. ELISA

Chlamydia antigens in the urogenital tract are detected using a spectrophotometer, and color change is positive. Results are available within 24 hours, with a sensitivity of 60% to 90% and a specificity of 92% to 97%.

3. Cultivation of Chlamydia trachomatis

Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular parasite that can only grow and reproduce in living cells. The cells commonly used for Chlamydia culture are McCoy cells and Hela229 cells, which have a specificity of 99% to 100% and a sensitivity of 68.4% to 100%, and are currently the gold standard for diagnosing Chlamydia trachomatis. Chlamydia trachomatis is a microorganism that parasitizes in columnar epithelial cells. The appropriate culture specimen is taken with a swab from the urethra within 2 to 4 mm of the internal urethral orifice, rather than taking secretions or urine from the urethral orifice for culture.

4. Ureaplasma urealyticum culture

By utilizing the principle that ureaplasma can decompose arginine to produce ammonia and ferment glucose to produce acid, the broth culture medium containing arginine can be turned alkaline, the color of the indicator changes from yellow to red, and the glucose broth culture medium changes from pink to yellow. This method has been widely used in clinical practice.

5. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and ligase-linked reaction (LCR)

Both sensitivity and specificity are better than other methods, but care should be taken to prevent false positives caused by contamination.

How to check for non-gonococcal urethritis in women? When examining and diagnosing this stubborn disease, it is not enough to simply judge based on the patient's symptoms. It requires more professional medical methods. Once the disease is confirmed, treatment must be started immediately while also providing daily care.