Self-Test Kit: Rapid Diagnosis of Urogenital Infections in Military Women
Abstract
Lower genital tract infections occur commonly among 17 - 25 year old women and pose a significant problem for military women especially on deployment. This project is to develop a rapid "self-test kit" for common, treatable cervical/vaginal and urinary tract infections. We have completed the developmental phase of the test kit and proceeded to test the performance in women with genital complaints that will collect and test their own urine and vaginal secretions. Additional modifications may be added as technology provides, however, in the present form the test kit offers sensitivity, specificity and predictive value that exceeds that available in standard clinical settings as well as resource poor environments. Specifically, this test exceeds the performance of clinical/wet mount evaluation and syndromic management schemes. A number of modifications were made and tested during the second year. We have thus far tested the kit in 234 women with genital complaints. The self-test kit results suggested appropriate treatment in the majority of cases. Specifically, 90% of women were targeted for curative therapy. We have also enrolled the first 30 women in the self-test phase and have very encouraging results with all women successfully able to obtain specimens and perform testing. The patient interpretation of dipstick results was equally successful with 100% agreement between patient and clinician interpretation of results for lactoferrin dipstick and 94% for the pH/amine test. Thus, we remain optimistic that this project will result in a self-test kit for use on deployment and/or in other resource poor environments.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADB245382
Entities
People
- Daniel V. Landers