Recovery of cytomegalovirus and chlamydia trachomatis from vaginal tampons

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Abstract
Herpes simplex virus (HSV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), and Chlamydia trachomatis are important agents in venereal and neonatal disease. Vaginal tampon culture for HSV has previously been demonstrated to be a simple and effective technique for quantitative culture of cervical secretions. We have evaluated the tampon culture as a means of performing quantitative cultures for CMV and C trachomatis.Cell‐free and cell‐associated CMV were quantitatively recovered from vaginal tampons when extraction was performed within one hour of tampon inoculation. However, when tampons were stored, there was a rapid loss of infectivity over time at all storage temperatures except –70°C. C trachomatis was quantitatively recovered from tampons stored at ≤4°C for four days. When stored at –7O°C, C trachomatis was stable on tampons for more than one week.Because HSV, CMV, and C trachomatis are stable in a single transport medium, a tampon stored at 4°C briefly or at –70°C for one week could be utilized for the detection of all three agents.