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By Elizabeth Lopatto - Jul 12, 2011 6:00 AM CT
A sex disease that’s more prevalent than gonorrhea and chlamydia, and less well-known, is suffered by 13 percent of women aged 50 and older, a study found.
Most STDs are more common in young people, said the study’s senior author, Charlotte Gaydos, a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Instances of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia must be reported by doctors to state and federal health officials. There’s no mandate to do that for Trichomonas even though an estimated 7.4 million new cases occur every year.
“It’s not a reportable disease, although it’s more prevalent than chlamydia and gonorrhea combined,” Gaydos said in a telephone interview. “Maybe we should make this reportable and get good data.”
The study, of 7,593 U.S. women aged 18 to 89 in 28 states, showed an 8.3 percent overall infection rate among women.Testing is needed because most infected people show no symptoms, according to the study.
In men, the parasite is usually asymptomatic, according the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. In women, infection can also cause pelvic inflammatory disease, vaginal discharge and low birth weight babies.
Single-Cell Protozoan
For a long time it was difficult to test for Trichomonas, because doctors had to grow the parasite in culture or see it in a sample. The organism, a single-cell protozoan, doesn’t survive well outside the body, so those tests were inaccurate about half the time, Gaydos said.
Gen-Probe Inc. (GPRO) of San Diego manufactures a test for the disease now, she said. She was involved in the clinical trials for the test’s regulatory approval. The test was approved April 20 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Gen-Probe provided tests but did not fund the study, Gaydos said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Lopatto in New York at elopatto@bloomberg.net.
