THE embarrassment and discomfort of an internal examination puts many women
off being tested for sexually transmitted diseases. Specially designed tampons
and sanitary towels may soon eliminate that problem, and even allow some STDs to
be diagnosed by mail.
In most tests for STDs, the doctor takes a swab from high inside the vagina.
But this method isn鈥檛 very sensitive, and fails if the bugs die in transit to
the lab. The tampon test was devised to detect trichomoniasis, the most common
STD worldwide. The single-celled protozoan Trichomonas vaginalis causes itching
and vaginal discharge. Although not fatal, it leaves infected women more likely
to have low-birthweight or premature babies.
Patrick Sturm of the University of Natal in South Africa wanted to develop a
test that women could do themselves, especially in remote rural areas. 鈥淚t鈥檚
less traumatic, and there鈥檚 no need for a vaginal examination,鈥� he says.
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Sturm and his team asked 1030 pregnant women to insert a tampon for 15
minutes. The researchers tested the fluid in the tampons for DNA unique to the
protozoan, using the highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) .
He found that 24 per cent of the women tested had trichomoniasis. The new
test is 20 per cent more sensitive than the traditional swabbing method.
Thinking along similar lines, Michel Fortier and his team at Laval University
in Quebec have devised a modified sanitary towel containing a removable filter
that can be used to test for Chlamydia trachomatis, a common sexually
transmitted bacterium that can cause infertility, among many other problems.
Women simply wear the towel for 4 hours, pop the filter in a zip-lock bag, and
post it to the lab.
The team tested the method on 510 women, using PCR to detect chlamydial DNA
in the filters. Again, this method is highly sensitive, and Fortier hopes it
could be used to detect a range of STDs quickly and discreetly.
