Filipino biologists develop a rapid test for sexually transmitted infection

Manila: Biologists from the University of Philippines (UP) The Science College have developed an alternative test and more efficient in terms of costs to detect a common type of preventable infection and with preventable sexual transmission and with predominant sexual transmission.

A special interest in Christine Justo and Windell Rivera at the Institute of Biology in UP Diliman is able to catch trichomoniasis, a sti whose cases are usually asymptomatic.

Trichomoniasis, which can be transmitted by having sex without a condom or with a sexual partner, can cause birth problems and an increased risk of pelvic inflammatory disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It could also lead to infertility in men.

Instead of using antibodies, Justo and Rivera have developed “aptamers”, short DNA streams that stick to targeted proteins, which in this case are Trichomonas Vaginalis, the parasite that causes trichomonia.

This discovery came from their study, the “APTAMER test with Sandwich enzyme for Trichomonas Vaginalis”, published in December last year in various medical magazines, including the US National Medicine Library.

Justo explained that a series of APTAMER based tests related to sandwich enzyme, a multistep laboratory test to analyze various samples at one time, was done to discover which of the APTAMERS could be suitable to find “low parasite concentrations.”

This method, the researchers noted, could lead to the creation of “more accessible and easier to use” testing kits to detect trichomoniasis if it is paid enough attention and funding by the Government and the interested parties in the health sector.

This could help health workers in developing effective measures to control the spread and management of possible complications that may arise from such ITS.

“With the flexible and amplifiable nature of the apt (unlike antibodies), many others can be created (testing the care point) for trichomonia,” Justo said in a statement last week.

“However, financing and attention to trichomonia are very limited. The financial partners and additional clinics are necessary before we can start implementing them in the medical assistance units, ”she added.

Philippines does not have the periodic monitoring of specific ITSs among different segments of the population.

The data from the International Family Health and Health Department have shown that the trichomoniasis had a prevalence rate of 3.18 percent among over 2,000 Philippine respondents in 2002.

At that time, trichomoniasis was detected by laboratory testing “culture or wet installation”.

Other curable ITSs found among women surveyed were Chlamydia (5.75 percent), gonorrhea (0.75 percent) and syphilis (0.17 percent).

The other ITS detected among the Philippine women, who cannot be cured with drugs, are hepatitis B, bacterial vaginosis and candidiasis.

The National Study of Demography and Health of 2022 of the Authority of Philippine Statistics has shown only the “self-reported prevalence” of STS symptoms and among women between 15 and 49 who have had a sexual interaction.

The survey found that seven percent of women between the ages of 15 and 49 have reported that they have similar symptoms or in the last 12 months. A percentage of them said they had a sti.

Depending on the age, the women who were diagnosed with Sti were the largest between 20 and 24 years, at 11.1 percent, followed by those between the ages of 15 and 19 at 8.2 %.

In 2020, about 156 million new cases of T. Vaginalis infection were registered among men and women between the ages of 15 and 49, according to WHO. Most fresh infections were from African countries. – Philippines Daily Inquirer/Ann