Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jun;103(6):423-425.
doi: 10.1016/j.contraception.2021.01.011. Epub 2021 Feb 1.

Offering routine trichomonas vaginalis testing to patients presenting for abortion at an urban hospital-based clinic

Morgan L Cheeks  1 , Rebecca Schwartz  2 , Elizabeth C Oleson  3 , Stephanie Cohen  4 , Eleanor A Drey  5 , Dominika Seidman  5
Affiliations

Offering routine trichomonas vaginalis testing to patients presenting for abortion at an urban hospital-based clinic

Morgan L Cheeks et al. Contraception. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

Introduction: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend considering screening asymptomatic women for trichomonas in high-prevalence settings. Whether urban abortion clinics constitute such a setting is unknown.

Material and methods: We offered trichomonas screening to patients presenting for abortion from October 2018 to February 2019 as a practice improvement and conducted a chart review.

Results: Ninety-two percent (593/644) of patients underwent testing. Trichomonas prevalence was 10.0% (95% CI 7.7-12.6). Ninety five percent of patients diagnosed were treated. Testing only symptomatic patients would have missed 98% of infections.

Conclusions: Trichomonas was highly prevalent, and universal testing and treatment was feasible in an urban abortion clinic.

Keywords: Abortion; Health disparities; Health equity; Sexually transmitted infection; Trichomonas vaginalis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

References

    1. Meites E, Gaydos CA, Hobbs MM, Kissinger P, Nyirjesy P, Schwebke JR, et al. A review of evidence-based care of symptomatic trichomoniasis and asymptomatic Trichomonas vaginalis infections. Clin Infect Dis 2015;61:S837–48. doi: 10.1093/cid/civ738. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Trichomoniasis 2015 STD treatment guidelines 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/std/tg2015/trichomoniasis.htm (accessed June 5, 2020).
    1. Tompkins EL, Beltran TA, Gelner EJ, Farmer AR. Prevalence and risk factors for Trichomonas vaginalis infection among adults in the U.S., 2013–2014. PLOS ONE 2020;15:e0234704. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234704. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. STI-National-Strategic-Plan-2021–2025.pdf n.d. https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/STI-National-Strategic-Plan-2021... (accessed January 14, 2021).
    1. Hallfors DD, Iritani BJ, Miller WC, Bauer DJ. Sexual and drug behavior patterns and HIV and STD racial disparities: the need for new directions. Am J Public Health 2007;97:125–32. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2005.075747. - DOI - PMC - PubMed