Sexually Transmitted Infections
This is a particularly area of expertise for Healthscope Molecular. Each year, we perform many thousands of STI tests, including Chlamydia, Gonorrhoeae, Herpes, HIV and HPV.
By concentrating STI testing in Healthscope Molecular’s laboratory, it has allowed the research and development of new molecular tests to be maximised. It also concentrates the expertise, test volumes and sophisticated ‘state of the art’ equipment required to achieve frequent testing and rapid turn around of results.
High volume assays such as those for Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea are performed daily:
- Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea PCR – a multiplex (detects more than one agent in the same assay) real time ‘in house’ PCR
- Herpes simplex (1 and 2) and Varicella zoster viruses (Herpes group PCR) – also designed as a multiplex real time ‘in house’ assay
- Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) – this is a unique, novel and world leading PCR assay developed by Healthscope Molecular in collaboration with Genera Biosystems.
- HIV - the latest technology from Roche Diagnostics, the ‘Taqman 48’ real time PCR machine running the COBAS Taqman HIV-1 assay is employed.