Julius Schachter, PhD
Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine
Other Activities
Director, Chlamydia Laboratory
San Francisco General Hospital
Contact Information
Building 30, Room 416
San Franciso General Hospital
1001 Potrero Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94110
jsch@itsa.ucsf.edu
Education
BA: Columbia University, New York
MA: Hunter College, New York
PhD: University of California, Berkeley
Research Interests
During the past academic year Dr Schachter’s activities continued to stress the evaluation of diagnostic tests for sexually transmitted diseases. In addition to focusing on appropriate specimens to be used in screening for STDs, he has been evaluating the CDC’s recommendations concerning the need for confirming positive nucleic acid amplification test results in low-prevalence settings. He concludes that the CDC’s recommendations are not well founded. It actually turns out to be better to accept the initial positive results and record them, rather than to begin a complicated series of steps involved in test confirmation. A failure to repeat the positive result will actually be more often wrong than right. In addition, he has been evaluating the long-term outcome of community-wide treatment with azithromycin for the control of trachoma. In this project, called ACT II, he has performed a follow-up to his previous trials in Egypt (completed ten years ago) that provided proof of concept for the use of community-wide treatment with azithromycin for the elimination of blinding trachoma. ACT II also involves Dr. Chandler Dawson, Dr. Tom Lietman, and Dr. Richard Stephens.
Representative Publications
Donegan E, Moncada J, Chernesky M, Schachter J. Sexually transmitted infection/HIV laboratory testing in resource-limited countries: steps to improve use effective testing and to ensure diagnostic capacity. Sex Transm Dis. 2003. 30:905-8.
Moncada J, Chow JM, Schachter J. Volume effect on sensitivity of nucleic acid amplification tests for detection of Chlamydia trachomatis in urine specimens from females. J Clin Microbiol. 2003. 41:4842-3.
Shafer MA, Moncada J, Boyer CB, Betsinger K, Flinn SD, Schachter J. Comparing first-void urine specimens, self-collected vaginal swabs, and endocervical specimens to detect Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae by a nucleic acid amplification test. J Clin Microbiol. 2003. 41:4395-9.
Schachter J, McCormack WM, Chernesky MA, Martin DH, Van Der Pol B, Rice PA, Hook EW 3rd, Stamm WE, Quinn TC, Chow JM. Vaginal swabs are appropriate specimens for diagnosis of genital tract infection with Chlamydia trachomatis. J Clin Microbiol. 2003. 41:3784-9.
Castle PE, Escoffery C, Schachter J, Rattray C, Schiffman M, Moncada J, Sugai K, Brown C, Cranston B, Hanchard B, Palefsky JM, Burk RD, Hutchinson ML, Strickler HD. Chlamydia trachomatis, herpes simplex virus 2, and human T-cell lymphotrophic virus type 1 are not associated with grade of cervical neoplasia in Jamaican colposcopy patients. Sex Transm Dis. 2003. 30:575-80.
Caldwell HD, Wood H, Crane D, Bailey R, Jones RB, Mabey D, Maclean I, Mohammed Z, Peeling R, Roshick C, Schachter J, Solomon AW, Stamm WE, Suchland RJ, Taylor L, West SK, Quinn TC, Belland RJ, McClarty G. Polymorphisms in Chlamydia trachomatis tryptophan synthase genes differentiate between genital and ocular isolates. J Clin Invest. 2003. 111:1757-69.
Gaynor BD, Miao Y, Cevallos V, Jha H, Chaudary JS, Bhatta R, Osaki-Holm S, Yi E, Schachter J, Whitcher JP, Lietman T. Eliminating trachoma in areas with limited disease. Emerg Infect Dis. 2003. 9:596-8.
Bird M, Dawson CR, Schachter JS, Miao Y, Shama A, Osman A, Bassem A, Lietman TM. Does the diagnosis of trachoma adequately identify ocular chlamydial infection in trachoma-endemic areas? J Infect Dis. 2003. 187:1669-73.
Gaydos CA, Quinn TC, Willis D, Weissfeld A, Hook EW, Martin DH, Ferrero DV, Schachter J. Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae in female urine and endocervical swab specimens. J Clin Microbiol. 2003. 41:304-9.
Schachter J, Dawson CR. Elimination of blinding trachoma. Curr Opin Infect Dis. 2002. 15:491-5.
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