Chlamydia and Suspected Sexual Abuse
1 Division of Adolescent Medine, Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, 4650 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027
In Reply.
We thank Dr Hammerschlag for her thoughtful comments. We wholeheartedly agree with her about the use of cultures in the setting of suspected sexual abuse. As other studies have indicated, the sensitivity and specificity of the direct fluorescent antibody test are too low in a population with low prevalence rates such as a population with suspected child abuse.
We also agree with Dr Hammerschlag about the possibility of perinatal infection in a young child.




