Enzyme immunoassay for urogenital trichomoniasis as a marker of unsafe sexual behaviour

Enzyme immunoassay (EIA) was used to detect antibodies toTrichomonas vaginalisin sera
from Zimbabwe. The EIA showed a sensitivity of 95 and 94% when compared with vaginal
swab culture among women attending a family planning clinic (FPC) and female commercial
sex workers (CSW) respectively. The specificity was 85 and 77% in the two groups. Culturenegative
FPC women were sub-divided into high risk or low risk of exposure to
trichomoniasis. The seroprevalence was 10% (6/61) among low risk women, 21% (10/48)
among high risk women and 23% (9/39) among culture negative CSW. The EIA was positive
in 46% (18/39) men with genital discharge but only 5% (2}37) healthy blood donors. None of
31 sera from prepubescent children was positive. The EIA may be useful for community
surveys of trichomoniasis. BecauseT. vaginalisis a common sexually transmitted disease, the
test may indicate behaviour that increases the risk of STD transmission.