Table 3.

Comparison of T. vaginalis (TV) concentrations from simulated swabs that were shipped in a dry or wet state and after heating the swab at 55°C for 5 days.

TV Concentration/ml	TV wet	RLU^a (×1000)	TV dry	RLU^a (×1000)	TV dry heated^b	RLU^a (×1000)
10 ⁷	POS	1580	POS	1621	POS	4452
10 ⁷	POS	1619	POS	1597	POS	4172
10 ⁶	POS	1597	POS	1488	POS	3847
10 ⁶	POS	1606	POS	1458	POS	2802
10 ⁵	POS	1606	POS	1252	POS	2510
10 ⁵	POS	1553	POS	1284	POS	2710
10 ⁴	POS	1320	POS	908	POS	1436
10 ⁴	POS	1370	POS	1002	POS	1427
10 ³	POS	1076	POS	325	POS	349
10 ³	POS	1099	POS	443	POS	520
10 ²	POS	364	POS	71	POS	104
10²	POS	718	NEG	11	NEG	36
10	POS	261	NEG	19	NEG	26
10	POS	257	NEG	25	NEG	2
10	POS	347	NEG	13	NEG	18
10	POS	410	NEG	32	NEG	9
1	POS	67	NEG	1	NEG	1
1	NEG	30	NEG	3	NEG	1
1	NEG	56	NEG	6	NEG	1
1	NEG	20	NEG	3	NEG	8
1	NEG	32	NEG	2	NEG	4
1	NEG	31	NEG	1	NEG	1
1	NEG	33	NEG	2	NEG	3
1	NEG	40	NEG	2	NEG	3
1	POS	115	NEG	1	NEG	1
1	NEG	23	NEG	2	NEG	1

RLU = Relative Light Unit measure for the Gen-Probe TRIC APTIMA test. Positive T. vaginalis specimens have RLUs >60 thousands.

Heated test was conducted after the specimen was maintained at 55°C for 5 days.

Negative controls (10) tested were all negative.