Trichomonas vaginalis infections are usually asymptomatic or can result in non-specific clinical symptoms, which makes laboratory-based detection of this protozoan parasite essential for diagnosis and treatment. We report the development of a battery of highly sensitive and specific PCR assays for detection of T. vaginalis in urine, a non-invasive specimen, and development of a protocol for differentiating among Trichomonas species that commonly infect humans.

Despite a high prevalence of sexually transmitted Chlamydia trachomatis infections in Brazil and other countries in South America, very little is known about the distribution of C. trachomatis genovars. In this study, we genotyped C. trachomatis strains from urine or endocervical specimens collected from 163 C. trachomatis-positive female and male youths, and female adults, residing in two different regions of Brazil, the city of Goiania located in the central part of Brazil, and the city of Vitoria in the south-east region. C. trachomatis strains were genotyped by amplifying and sequencing the ompA gene encoding the chlamydial major outer-membrane protein, which is genovar specific. We found nine different C. trachomatis genovars: E (39.3 %), F (16.6 %), D (15.9 %), I (8.6 %), J (7.4 %), G (4.9 %), K (3.1 %), H (2.4 %) and B (1.8 %). The distribution of the C. trachomatis genovars in the two regions of Brazil was similar, and there was no statistically significant association of serovars with age, gender, number of sexual partners or clinical symptoms. The overall distribution of C. trachomatis genovars in Brazil appears similar to that found in other regions of the world, where E, D and F are the most common. This supports the notion that, during the last few decades, the overall distribution of C. trachomatis genovars throughout the world has been relatively stable.