Evaluation of the laboratory diagnosis of vaginal trichomoniasis in Khartoum.

A total of 403 vaginal discharge specimens were investigated for Trichomonas vaginalis using fresh wet-mounts, culture and Papanicolaou staining. By fresh wet-mounts, 58 specimens (14.4%) were found harbouring the parasite. On culture 67 isolates (16.7%) were identified. Both wet-mount and cultural procedures detected 18.3% positive isolates. Papanicolaou staining detected 40 positive cases (9.9%) from the patients investigated. Two culture media were tried in this study to isolate T. vaginalis, namely Lumsden's medium and Diamond's medium. Their efficacy was found to be 16.9% and 14.8%, respectively.