[Usefulness of the gonozyme (Abbott) test in the diagnosis of gonorrhea in prostitutes].

A group of 326 prostitutes were examined for gonorrhoea and the result was positive in 45 cases (14%). Smears were stained with methylene blue and by Gram's method, cultures were conducted on suitable media and the immunoenzymatic method EIA-Gonozyme (Abbott) was used. Smear evaluation was insufficiently sensitive and specific, but it made possible a rapid diagnosis of 17 cases. Most positive result were obtained with the Gonozyme test (41 cases), including 15 women (37%) in whom a positive result was obtained only in urethral secretion, despite a negative result of the examination of cervical secretion. Gonococci were cultured in 29 cases (9%), including 5 (17%) with bacterial growth obtained only from the urethral secretion in 13 (45%) only in cervical secretion. In 27 of these patients the Gonozyme test was positive. Gonozyme was highly useful in the examinations of prostitutes in view of its sensitivity and the fact that the gonococcal antigen can be detected also when the result of culture was negative due to antibiotic taking. Always secretion from the urethra and cervix should be examined, since in 17% of the infected women the diagnosis was established by culture and the Gonozyme test demonstrated infection only in urethral secretion in 37% of the infected women.