TRICHOMONIASIS IS A PROBLEM IN ABORIGINAL WOMEN - FACT OR FICTION

Microbiological records for 1993 from Alice Springs Hospital (ASH) and Western Diagnostic Pathology (WDP) Alice Springs laboratories were se arched to extract details of women from whom genital swabs had been ex amined. Cases in whom T. vaginalis and N. gonorrhoeae were detected we re noted. Ethnicity was determined as Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal. Fr om the ASH data, age breakdown was also possible. The results show tha t the non-Aboriginal trichomoniasis infections rate was less than 1%. The Aboriginal rate of infection in Aboriginal women was 6% for non-ho spital and 17% for hospital patients. This difference was probably due to the time lag between taking and examining specimens, and often onl y obtaining endo-cervical samples from patients in rural areas. The tr ichomoniasis rate of 17% was considered the more accurate estimate as it is less effected by transport and processing factors. Aboriginal wo men had a gonococcal detection rate of 3.5% and non-Aboriginal women l ess than 0.5%. Aboriginal women, from all age groups, had high detecti on rates of trichomoniasis. It is suggested that when drafting future treatment protocols for Central Australia empirical treatment of both sexes for trichomoniasis needs to be seriously considered when treatin g Aboriginal patients and contacts for any other sexually transmitted diseases.