Targeted screening for Trichomonas vaginalis with culture using a two-step method in women presenting for STD...

Trichomonas vaginalis is the most common nonviral sexually transmitted pathogen. Wet mount microscopy performs poorly compared with culture; however, universal screening using culture would be cost-prohibitive.

The goal of this study was to develop a predictive model for wet mount-negative women who may benefit from targeted use of culture for T. vaginalis detection.

Women presenting for sexually transmitted disease evaluation were prospectively screened for trichomoniasis using wet mount and culture. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify predictors of culture-proven trichomoniasis among wet mount-negative women.

A total of 2194 women were screened for trichomoniasis; overall, the prevalence of T. vaginalis was 17.5%. Three predictors (any drug use, contact to trichomoniasis, and African-American race) provided the most specific model (100%); any 1 predictor, the most sensitive model (97.8%).

Given the public health impact of trichomoniasis, we recommend using any 1 of 3 predictors to identify women who would benefit from targeted culture for T. vaginalis.