Environmental Contamination by Chlamydia trachomatis RNA Can Cause False-Positive Test Results in Clinical Samples

Abstract

An investigation of unexpected positive test results for Chlamydia trachomatis at a women's health clinic in Sweden revealed that samples were contaminated by RNA in the clinic. The risk for RNA contamination at a clinic has been postulated previously. We are, however, not aware that this has actually been demonstrated in practice.