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To asses the use of the polymearase chain reaction COBAS AMPLICOR as a diagnostic method for Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection and its reliability in comparison with the classi­cal method.

We divided the collected samples in three groups. Group A group of 113 clinical speci­men (urine, cervical smear) from the Outpatient Clinic for Sexually Transmited Diseases, Department of Dermatology in Ljubljana, accounted as a population with high risk of infec­tion; group B of 48 medical students (urine rinse of urethra), presumed to be a population with low risk of infection; group C of 31 frozen samples of six different strains from the genus Neisseriaceae that have shown the specificity of the COBAS AMPLICOR polymerase chain reaction test.

In the group A we found three gonorrhea positive patients with the polymerase chain reaction method, as well as with the standard method of cultures and fermentation of sug­ars. All the results of the testing in the group B were negative. In the group C we correctly identified the 10 N. gonorrhoeae among the different Neisseriaceae strains.

With our work we proved that COBAS AMPLICOR polymerase chain reaction test is use­ful for diagnostic and screening purposes. It is as reliable as classical diagnostic method and enough specific to discern N. gonorrhoeae from other bacteria of the genus of Neisseriaceae.