摘要："Background: In most developing countries, STIs are managed syndromically because of lack the equip-ment and trained personal required for etiological diagnosis of STIs. We assessed the adequacy of syn-dromic diagnosis of STIs, compared with laboratory diagnosis of STIs/RTIs. Methods: A community based, cross-sectional study was carried out among 466 women of reproductive age group during period of Jan 2007 to Jan 2008 at Urban Health Centre. Participants were selected by systematic random sampling. Results: In the present study, 50% of women reported symptoms related to various RTI syndromes of which most common was vaginal discharge. However self reported symptoms correlated poorly with laboratory evidence of RTIs, with sensitivity of 55.06% and specificity of 57.33%. An improvement in sensitivity from 55.06% to 82.91% was observed when RTIs were diagnosed with clinical examination however specificity decreased to 53.33% from 57.33%. The sensitivity of algorithm for diagnosing cervical abnormality on clinical examination is low (56.04%) missing most true infections. Conclusions: The control of STIs in resource poor settings remains a major challenge. The development of simple affordable diagnostic tests that can be used for case finding is highest priority. "
