Evaluation of a novel diagnostic test for bacterial vaginosis: 'the electronic nose'

The objectives were, first, to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the Osmetech Microbial Analyser(TM) (OMA(TM)) for the diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis (BV) and, secondly, to determine the factors that interfere with the performance of the test. Women presenting to a genitourinary medicine clinic underwent routine screening for genital infections. Additional swabs were tested on the OMA, and by Nugent scoring. The optimum method for sampling was determined on the first 372 samples. BV was diagnosed in 182 (27%) of the remaining 665 subjects by Amsel criteria, and 188 (29%) of 642 women with evaluable Gram-stains. The sensitivity and specificity of the OMA were 81.45% and 76.1% compared to Amsel criteria and 82.9% and 77.3% compared to Gram-stain. Further refinements to improve the sensitivity and specificity of the OMA are required to provide an accurate near patient testing method.