Chlamydia antibodies are antibodies targeting bacteria

Bacteria

Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...

 of the Chlamydia genus, but it generally refers specifically to antibodies targeting Chlamydia trachomatis

Chlamydia trachomatis

Chlamydia trachomatis, an obligate intracellular human pathogen, is one of three bacterial species in the genus Chlamydia. C. trachomatis is a Gram-negative bacteria, therefore its cell wall components retain the counter-stain safranin and appear pink under a light microscope.The inclusion bodies...

, which is the cause of Chlamydia infection in humans.

Usage

Testing for Chlamydia antibodies is not the mainstay diagnostic tool for Chlamydia infection, which is preferentially diagnosed by Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) such as polymerase chain reaction

Polymerase chain reaction

The polymerase chain reaction is a scientific technique in molecular biology to amplify a single or a few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence....

 (PCR).

However, testing for Chlamydia antibodies is a cost-effective screening device in detecting fallopian tube pathology, as it is often related to Chlamydia infection. The preferred technique for this purpose is by micro-immunofluorescence (MIF), because it superior in the assessment of tubal pathology when compared with immunofluorescence

Immunofluorescence

Immunofluorescence is a technique used for light microscopy with a fluorescence microscope and is used primarily on biological samples. This technique uses the specificity of antibodies to their antigen to target fluorescent dyes to specific biomolecule targets within a cell, and therefore allows...

 (IF) or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).