Sensitivity assessment of direct method for diagnosis of Trichomonas vaginalis in comparison with Dorset Culture media

Trichomonas vaginalis is a flagellate protozoan that lives in the genital tract and causes trichomoniasis in women. About 200 million people all over the world are infected with T. vaginalis. There are various methods with different sensitivity and specificity for detection of this parasite, that one of them is direct smear of vaginal secretions which is simpler, rapid and cheaper than other diagnostic methods. Demographic data was gathered by a questionnaire which contained different variables. Vaginal secretions samples were taken by spicolum and two swaps that maintained in glucose solution in separate tubes from 160 women referred to health centers of Khorramabad. One of the vaginal samples was examined by direct smear in saline solution and the other was cultured in Dorse medium. Of 160 women suspected of trichomoniasis, 11.8% and 18.75% were positive by direct smear and culture respectively. The sensitivity of the direct method was 63.3%. Our findings indicated that 30% of the infected women belonged to the 31 – 35 age group, which had the most relative frequency of positive cases. Most of the patients (43%) were illiterate or had elementary educational level. Conclussion: The sensivity of direct method is 63% in compare to culture (as a Gold standard), which is ralatively low. Although the efficacy of this test could be imporved by shortening the elapsed time between sampling and examination, use of skilled microscopists, and different samples, but we recommend that more sensitive methods such as culture and PCR should be used.