comparison of culture and pcr methods in the detection of neisseria gonorrhoeae in patients suspected of gonorrhea

Background: this study compares the effectiveness of culture and pcr methods in detecting neisseria gonorrhoeae , a gram-negative bacterium causing gonorrhea, which can lead to serious health complications, especially in women, and highlights the advantages of nucleic acid amplification tests over traditional culture-based diagnosis.methods: this study involved 70 individuals suspected of gonorrhea who referred to baqiyatallah hospital in tehran between september and february 2022, with ethical approval and informed consent obtained from all participants. two swab samples were collected from each individual—one for culture and one for molecular testing—and stored appropriately for microbiological and genomic analysis.results: this study examined 70 women suspected of having gonorrhea, with a mean age of 32.32 ± 8.58 years, and found a prevalence of 30% by vaginal culture and 28.57% by pcr testing. using pcr as the gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of culture for diagnosing gonorrhea were determined to be 45% and 76%, respectively.conclusion: of course, the differences could be due to the size of the studied populations, but the important point is the high accuracy and sensitivity of the pcr test in identifying neisseria gonorrhoeae, which has been mentioned in most studies.