Response to 'implications of trichomonas vaginalis nucleic acid amplification testing on medical training and practice'

摘要

We sincerely thank Drs. Smith, Sorvillo, and Kuo for their thoughtful response to our paper entitled "Prevalence of Trichomonas vaginalis and coinfection with Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae in the United States as determined by the Aptima Trichomonas vaginalis nucleic acid amplification assay" (1). We agree that in order to implement universal screening and/or reporting of Trichomonas vaginalis, more evidence-based outcome studies and cost/benefit analyses should be performed for those patients who are asymptomatic or are at relatively low risk for acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This is especially important, as scarce health care dollars and increased workloads tax an already-strained public health system. We acknowledge that limitations of our data collection were specifically related to the fact that patient symptomatic status and identification of patients undergoing routine Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis screening were not delineated. However, the high prevalence of T. vaginalis, a treatable sexually transmitted organism, observed in this population of women being tested for N. gonorrhoeae/C. trachomatis was impressive, and these important prevalence data merit reporting to health care providers. More research will be needed to ascertain prevalence in symptomatic and asymptomatic women, as well as men (2).