Distribution of HPV genotypes among women with abnormal cytology results in Alberta, Canada.

Background: Persistent infection with a subset of human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes can cause abnormal cytology and invasive cervical cancer. This study examines the circulating HPV genotype strains in a local population of the province of Alberta (a largely unvaccinated population) to establish baseline frequency of vaccine and non-vaccine genotypes causing abnormal cervical cytology.

Method: Remnant liquid-based cytology specimens from the Alberta Cervical Cancer Screening Program (March 2014-January 2016) were examined.

Use of the APTIMA Combo 2 Assay and a Secondary Algorithm to Detect and Confirm Chlamydia trachomatis in Rectal-Only Infections.

We sought to confirm the results of 81 rectal specimens positive for Chlamydia trachomatis by the APTIMA Combo 2 assay among patients with concurrently collected negative genitourinary specimens. A total of 79 (97.5%) samples were confirmed by the APTIMA single target assay and/or sequencing of the C.

Rapid Identification of Measles Virus Vaccine Genotype by Real-Time PCR.

During measles outbreaks, it is important to be able to rapidly distinguish between measles cases and vaccine reactions to avoid unnecessary outbreak response measures such as case isolation and contact investigations. We have developed a real-time reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) method specific for genotype A measles virus (MeV) (MeVA RT-quantitative PCR [RT-qPCR]) that can identify measles vaccine strains rapidly, with high throughput, and without the need for sequencing to determine the genotype. We have evaluated the method independently in three measles reference laboratories using two platforms, the Roche LightCycler 480 system and the Applied Biosystems (ABI) 7500 real-time PCR system.