Bacterial vaginosis in Khartoum State, Sudan: Comparison of Gram stain with Pap test procedures

The prime purpose of this study was to define the reliability of the Pap test in establishing the diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis (BV) as well as ascertaining the trustworthiness of Pap test and Gram stain in the diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis using Amsel’s criteria as a gold standard method. Thereby prospective study conducted included 300 females attending to the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics in our center for the usual follow-up, during a period between December 2013 and August 2014. Every patient had both Pap test and Gram-stained vaginal smear as well. Specifity, sensitivity and predictive values of aforementioned tests were calculated using the obtained results compared to Amsel’s criteria as reference values. Adopting Amsel’s criteria as a gold standard method, sensitivity and specificity of Pap test were found to be 83.4 and 95.2% respectively, compared to 93.4 and 100% in Gram stain. Whereas the positive and negative predictive values of Pap smear were estimated as 88.2 and 93%, respectively. On the other hand, Gram stain shows positive and negative predictive value of 100 and 97.2% correspondingly. Accounting on data presented in this study, it was concluded that, Pap test is found to be less sensitive for screening of BV comparable to the standard microbiological test results. Notwithstanding, it may be adequately enough owing to its high specificity.