New look at trichomoniasis.

Three percent of participants in Wave 3 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health who provided urine samples for STD testing had trichomoniasis, a frequently asymptomatic infection whose prevalence has not previously been studied in the general population. (1) In this nationally representative sample of young adults, whose average age was 22 at the time of the survey, the prevalence of trichomoniasis was significantly higher among women than among men (3% vs. 2%) and was higher in the South than in other regions (3% vs. 1-2%). Hispanic and, especially, black young people had higher rates of infection than whites (2% and 7%, compared with 1%). Among women, the prevalence rate ranged from 1% for whites to 11% for blacks; among men, whites had the lowest rate (1%), and blacks and Native Americans the highest (3-4%). Prevalence also varied by age; overall and for each gender, the oldest respondents had significantly higher rates of infection than the youngest. "Because the potential consequences of this infection are significant," the researchers comment, "greater efforts are needed to reduce the prevalence."

(1.) Miller WC et al., The prevalence of trichomoniasis in young adults in the United States, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 2005, 32(10):593-598.