%0 Journal Article %A Berry, Lisa %A Stanley, Belinda %T Comparison of self-collected meatal swabs with urine specimens for the diagnosis of Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae in men %D 2017 %J Journal of Medical Microbiology, %V 66 %N 2 %P 134-136 %@ 1473-5644 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.000428 %K CT/GC %K chlamydia %K gonorrhoea %K NAATs %I Microbiology Society, %X Purpose. Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) are common bacterial causes of sexually transmitted infections. Self-taken meatal swabs are a possible alternative to urine samples in testing for infection; however, the data surrounding their use are limited. Methodology. We carried out a prospective service review in a large sexual health clinic comparing urine samples and self-taken meatal swabs in men presenting for sexual transmissible infection screening for CT and GC with the BD Viper XTR system. Results. We found an overall prevalence of 10.5 % for CT infections and 4.2 % for GC infections in our patient population. Meatal swab testing had a sensitivity and specificity of 91 and 99 % with an negative predictive value (NPV) of 99 % and a positive predictive value (PPV) of 96 % for CT testing compared to a sensitivity and specificity of 100 and 99 % with an NPV of 100 % and a PPV of 98 % for urine samples. The sensitivity and specificity of meatal swabs was 100 and 99 %, respectively, for GC detection with an NPV of 100 % and PPV of 89 % compared to urine which had 93 % sensitivity and 99 % specificity with an NPV and PPV of 99 and 93 %, respectively. Conclusions. Meatal samples were not inferior to urine samples for the detection of CT and GC. Male urethral meatal self-sampling offers an alternative sample type when compared to male urine specimens. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.000428