Adolescents may accurately self-collect pharyngeal and rectal clinical specimens for the detection of Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection.

Self-collected pharyngeal and rectal specimens demonstrated a very high proportion of human gene presence, suggesting that self-collection was accurate. A limitation of this study is that the sample adequacy control detects the presence or absence of the human hydroxymethylbilane synthase gene, but it does not indicate the specific anatomic origin of the human hydroxymethylbilane synthase gene. Self-collected specimens may be an appropriate alternative to clinician-collected specimens.