The prevalence of Trichomonas vaginalis detected by wet mount and polymerase chain reaction in Sydney women.

UNLABELLED: Objectives Although Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) has a low profile in urban Australia, local data has estimated the prevalence in women to be 10 times higher when using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) versus wet mount microscopy (4.8% v. 0.4%). Our aim was to determine the prevalence of TV in Sydney women using both wet mount and PCR.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted of women requiring sexually transmissible infection screening at the Sydney Sexual Health Centre. Vaginal swabs were examined for TV using PCR and wet mount microscopy.

RESULTS

In total, 781 of 1263 eligible women were tested; 3 out of 781 tested positive by PCR and 1 out of 781 by wet mount, giving a prevalence of 0.38% (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.14-1.12%) and 0.13% (95% CI: 0.03-0.71%) respectively. There was not enough power to compare PCR and wet mount.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this analysis indicate that in our female urban population, TV is a very rare sexually transmissible infection,with 0.38% prevalence, and routine screening by PCR is not indicated.