Rapid infectious disease test

Candida albicans

INTRODUCTION Vulvovaginal candidiasis (WC) is thought to be one of the most common causes of vaginal symptoms. Approximately, 75% of women will be diagnosed with Candida at least once during their lifetime. 40-50% of them will suffer recurrent infections and 5% are estimated to develop chronic Candidiasis. Candidiasis is more commonly misdiagnosed than other vaginal infections. Symptoms of WC which include: acute itching, vaginal soreness, irritation, rash on the outer lips of the vagina and genital burning that may increase during urination, are non specific. To obtain an accurate diagnosis, a thorough evaluation is necessary. In women who complain of vaginal symptoms, standard tests should be performed, such as saline and 10% potassium hydroxide microscopy. Microscopy is the mainstay in the diagnosis of WC, yet studies show that, in academic settings, microscopy has a sensitivity of at best 50% and thus will miss a substantial percentage of women with symptomatic WC. To increase the accuracy of diagnosis, yeast cultures have been advocated by some experts as an adjunctive diagnostic test, but these cultures are expensive and underutilized, and They have the further disadvantage that it may take up to a week to get a positive result. Inaccurate diagnosis of Candidiasis may delay treatment and cause more serious lower genital traa diseases. StrongStep9 Candida albicans Antigen Rapid Test is a point-of-care test for qualitative detection of Candida vaginal discharge swabs within 10-20 minutes. It is an important advance in improving the diagnosis of women with WC.