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Paper presented at National STD
Prevention Conference 2000
CA Metcalf1, J Douglas2,
N DeAugustine3, L Raveneau4
1Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA; 2Denver
Public Health, Denver, CO; 3Long Beach
Department of Health and Human Services, Long Beach, CA;
4North Jersey Community Research Initiative,
Newark, NJ.
Background and
Rationale: Trichomonas vaginalis (Trich) is
frequently detected in female STD clinic attenders, but
is rarely diagnosed in male attenders because there is
no effective method for detecting Trich in males.
Objectives:
To describe the detection of Trich in a group
of male STD clinic attenders, and to contrast this with
Trich in female attenders.
Methods:
Participants were recruited from 3 STD clinics for an
HIV testing and counseling trial (RESPECT-2).
Participants were screened for STDs at the baseline STD
visit, and 3 months later. Trich culture was done using
vaginal swabs (females) or urine sediment (males), with
the InPouch TV kit or modified Diamond's medium as
culture media.
Results::
At baseline, the prevalence of Trich was 14/960 (1.5%)
in males, and 80/740 (10.8%) in females. Of the 14 males
with Trich, 4 reported contact with a female partner
with Trich, and 11 were diagnosed with another STD (6
NGU, 4 gonorrhea, 1 chlamydia). Of the 8 males with
Trich detected at baseline who were re-screened, all had
a negative culture at 3 months. Of 368 males with a
negative culture at baseline who were re-screened, 1 had
an incident Trich infection detected at 3 months.
Conclusions:
The low detection rate of Trich in males
relative to females, suggests that urine culture is not
an effective method of detecting Trich in males. This
may be due to infection being more transient in males
than in females, resulting in a lower prevalence,
limited sensitivity of the test, or both. Trich control
would benefit from the availability of better methods
for detecting Trich in males, as standard treatment for
NGU is not effective against Trich.
Learning
Objectives:
- Describe Trich detection in
male STD clinic attenders.
- Understand the limitations
of current methods for detecting Trich in males.
- Understand the public health
importance of developing better methods for
detecting Trich in males for improved Trich control.
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