Unusually high prevalence of Trichomonas vaginalis observed in pre-/perimenopausal women

Substantial population of older women harbor Trichomonas vaginalis without being aware of the infection reports the results of retrospective observational study to be published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

As women progress into pre- and perimenopausal years, the prevalence of T. vaginalis increases, with the highest incidence found around 47 to 53 years of age, while the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis peaks around 10 years to 27 years and then slowly declined.

Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reactions were used in analyzing 1,554,966 and 1,999,077 cervicovaginal samples collected during gynecological examinations from women aged 10 to 79 years  for presence of T. vaginalis and C trachomatis, respectively. 

It was seen that T. vaginalis has a bimodal distribution with the first peak at age 22 years (4.1%) and another at age 48 (5.8%).  The prevalence of T. vaginalis also remained high at 4% in women aged 54 to 60 years.

A state-wide analysis showed that Mississippi (9.0%) has the highest prevalence for T. vaginalis while C.trachomatis was most common in Maine(6.4%).

This study is important because T. vaginalis is most common non-viral sexually transmitted disease but the physicians are not required to report the cases. Hence, not much is known about it distribution and prevalence.  

In about 1.5% T. vaginalis positive specimens were associated with ntr6_TV polymorphism, but it was not related to the age distribution pattern seen in the study.

The authors concluded that it may be good idea to test older women for T. vaginalis infection, who are least suspected of harboring a sexually transmitted infection.

Abstract

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