Patent ID: 7041469

Claim:
A method for detecting Trichomonas vaginalis in vaginal fluid, said method comprising: (a) wetting an implement capable of retaining liquid with said vaginal fluid at a pH within the range of 2 to 3.5 and applying said wetted implement to a solid-phase conjugate comprising a reagent covalently bonded to a binding member selected from the group consisting of lysine and arginine residues at the C-terminus of a peptide wherein, if said vaginal fluid contains a protease characteristic of Trichomonas vaginalis , said reagent is cleaved from said binding member and retained by said wetted implement, said reagent being a species that when released from said binding member and contacted with an indicator causes a detectable change in said indicator; (b) applying said implement, after having been applied to said solid-phase conjugate, to a solid-phase form of said indicator; and (c) detecting whether said detectable change has occurred on said implement, the occurrence. of said detectable change being an indication of the presence of Trichomonas vaginalis in said vaginal fluid.