frequency of trichomoniasis in patients admitted to outpatient clinics in hamadan (2007) and relationship between clinical diag-nosis and laboratory findings

background: trichomoniasis is recognized as a major sexually transmitted disâ­ease (std) in the world and has the highest prevalence and incidence of std. the prevalence strongly is related to cultural and social norms in different socieâ­ties, in relation to sexual partnership, monogamy, or polygamy. our objective was to describe the frequency and natural history of infection and correlation of cliniâ­cal signs with parasite detection. methods: from february 2006 to march 2007, in a cross sectional study, clinical and wet mount examination of vaginal smear along with culture were performed on 683 women attending to private outpatient clinics in hamadan, western iran. trichomoniasis was diagnosed based on major clinical symptoms. diagnosis was conâ­firmed using wet mount microscopically and culture in diamond medium. results: only 2.2% of patients with clinically diagnosed trichomonal vaginitis were positive for trichomonas vaginalis by wet smear and culture. the mean age of patients was 33.6â±9.7 yr, and majority of them were married and non-pregnant. some (5 patients) infected cases were divorced and others (7 patients) husâ­band were car driver. there was not statistically significant relationship beâ­tween clinical diagnosis and laboratory findings ( p >0.5), because the most of paâ­tients diagnosed trichomoniasis, were infected by candida or other vaginal infecâ­tions. conclusion: because of special cultural background, the vaginal trichomoniasis has minor importance problem in this population and clinical diagnosis is not effiâ­cient for treatment decision.