Absence of a Chlamydia trachomatis variant, harbouring a deletion in the cryptic plasmid, in clients of a sexually transmissible infection clinic and antenatal patients in Melbourne.

A Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) variant, harbouring a 377 bp deletion in the cryptic plasmid, recently identified in Europe, has caused false-negative reporting of CT infections by various assays. This report is aimed at identifying whether this variant is present among clients of a sexual health clinic, or antenatal screening patients in Melbourne. Two hundred CT-positive specimens (by BDProbeTec ET assay) from Melbourne Sexual Health Centre (August 2005-November 2006) were tested by COBAS TaqMan 48 PCR assay.

Temporal associations with declining Trichomonas vaginalis diagnosis rates among women in the state of Victoria, Australia, 1947 to 2005.

Background: To investigate the temporal associations between Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) diagnoses in women at a large urban sexual health clinic and a major Papanicolaou (Pap) smear screening laboratory in Victoria, Australia with Pap smear screening rates and the introduction of nitroimidazole treatments.

Methods: An ecological analysis of TV diagnosis rates at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre and the Victorian Cytology Service, Pap smear screening rates and nitroimidazole prescription data.

Results: Diagnoses of TV at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre peaked in the 1950s at 20% to 30% and then rapidly declined through the 1960s and 1970s to below 1% in 1990.

High recurrence rates of bacterial vaginosis over the course of 12 months after oral metronidazole therapy and factors associated with recurrence.

Background: We wished to determine recurrences of bacterial vaginosis (BV) after treatment over the course of 12 months and to establish factors associated with recurrence.

Methods: Women with symptomatic BV (a Nugent score [NS] of 7-10 or of 4-6 with >or=3 Amsel criteria) were enrolled. BV was treated with 400 mg of oral metronidazole twice a day for 7 days.