Quick and easy test for chlamydia developed

LONDON - An international team of scientists has developed an easy-to-use, rapid test for chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease that affects men and women and is a leading cause of infertility.

The "Firstburst" test gives results in less than 25 minutes, and will cost as little as 70USc ($1.08) in developing countries.

"One of the key features of this test is that it is not only rapid and easy to perform, but sample-taking is very simple," said Dr Helen Lee, of the University of Cambridge in England, who headed the research team.

The dipstick test picks up the bacterium in urine samples from men and from a vagina swab in women.

It is designed to be used in clinics, but Lee said her ultimate goal was for women to be able to test themselves.

Chlamydia is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases.

In 1999, about 92 million new cases of the illness were recorded, according to the World Health Organisation.

About 70 per cent of women and 50 per cent of men who have the disease do not know it because they have no symptoms.

Chlamydia can be easily treated with antibiotics but if it isn't, it can cause infertility, ectopic pregnancy, chronic pelvic pain and pelvic inflammatory disease in women.

Babies exposed to the bacterium during birth can develop eye infections leading to blindness and pneumonia.

- REUTERS