Point of care (POC) diagnostic tests for chlamydia have low sensitivity and positive predictive value, a study from the Netherlands has found. The researchers evaluated the diagnostic performance of three POC tests: Handilab-C, Biorapid CHLAMYDIA Ag test and QuickVue Chlamydia test comparing them with the nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT), the gold standard for diagnosing chlamydia. All the POC tests were commercially available and had a CE mark (Conformitée Européene). 'The authors described these tests as having ‘alarmingly poor performance' particularly in terms of sensitivity and positive predictive value; they also state that these tests are not ready for widespread use. Clearly in practice, this would result in infections being missed and unnecessary treatment for those with false-positive results.'