PCR detection in diagnosis of early syphilis: a preliminary result from China

Recently, Gayet-Ageron and colleagues published a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the diagnostic values of Treponema pallidum PCR and concluded that PCR is a useful additional diagnostic tool.1 However, the data on examining diagnostic performance of PCR-based methods for early syphilis are still limited in China although a few studies with the indirect data from China were included in the literature review.1 During April to September 2009, we conducted a survey among patients with suspected primary or secondary syphilis recruited from an STI clinic in Nanjing, China, to evaluate the performance of PCR assay for early syphilis diagnosis. Following an ethical review by …