The Korean Journal of Parasitology  2016;54(2):187-190

doi:10.3347/kjp.2016.54.2.187

Prevalence of Trichomoniasis by PCR in Women Attending Health Screening in Korea.

Seung Ryong KIM 1 ; Jung Hyun KIM ; Na Yeong GU ; Yong Suk KIM ; Yeon Chul HONG ; Jae Sook RYU

Affiliations

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Keywords

Trichomonas vaginalis; PCR; prevalence; woman

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

English

Abstract

Trichomoniasis is the most common curable sexually-transmitted infection (STI) worldwide. There are few reports on the prevalence of Trichomonas vaginalis in Korea. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of trichomoniasis by PCR in Guri city, Korea. All adult women who visited Hanyang University Guri Hospital for health screening within the National Health Care Service were invited to participate in the study, and 424 women were enrolled between March and June 2011. PCR was used to detect Trichomonas vaginalis using primers based on a repetitive sequence cloned from T. vaginalis (TV-E650). Fourteen women (3.3%) were found to have T. vaginalis. All were over 50, and they were significantly older on average than the 410 Trichomonas-negative women (mean ages 63.4 vs 55.3 years). It seems that T. vaginalis infection is not rare in women receiving health screening, especially among those over 50.