PACE (Probe AssayChemiluminescence Enhanced): A Magnetic Bead Assay for the Noncultural Diagnosis of Gonorrhea

Noncultural methods are available for the direct detection of various microorganisms in clinical specimens and/or for the identification of certain microbial agents recovered from culture. The Gen-Probe PACE 2 (Probe Assay—Chemiluminescence Enhanced) system for Neisseria gonorrhoeae uses the noncultural technique of nucleic acid hybridization (1 ) to detect Neisseria gonorrhoeae directly in urogenital swab specimens and/or to identify isolates of N. gonorrhoeae when recovered from culture. Clinical evaluations (2 ,3 ) of this commercially available PACE 2 assay (Gen-Probe, San Diego, CA) have found it to be at least comparable to conventional cultural technologies for the detection and/or characterization of gonococci.