Detection of Chlamydia trachomatis by the polymerase chain reaction in young patients with acute epididymitis.

Specimens from 11 patients presenting with acute epididymitis were tested for the presence of Chlamydia trachomatis by an enzyme immunoassay (EIA), growth in McCoy cells and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and for other microorganisms by standard laboratory techniques. Chlamydia trachomatis urethral infection was detected in four patients by tissue culture, in three patients by EIA and in nine patients by PCR. These findings confirm the usually low detection rate of Chlamydia trachomatis by conventional tissue culture and EIA. Detection by PCR indicated both the diagnostic value of this technique and the importance of this organism in epididymitis.