Is there any role for rapid tests for Chlamydia trachomatis?

The main aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of a recently introduced rapid diagnostic test, the QuickVue chlamydia test against polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for endocervical samples. Due to concerns surrounding the low specificity of rapid tests for a low prevalence population we assessed its performance for both high and low prevalence populations. The sensitivity and specificity of the QuickVue test compared to PCR were 65% (95% confidence interval [CI] 42-87%) and 100% respectively for the high prevalence population and 25% (95% CI: 5-70%) and 100% respectively for the low prevalence population.