Genzyme Corporation have introduced a new rapid test that will aid in the diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis (BV), the most common cause of vaginitis/vaginosis in women.

The OSOM® BVBLUE® Test provides reagent, sample swabs and testing vessels in this ten minute, user friendly kit. Once a vaginal swab is added to the testing vessel, a drop of developer solution turns the solution a blue or green color if the sample is positive for BV.

This product launch comes only a few months after Genzyme received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market a rapid test that aids in the diagnosis of trichomonas infection - a frequent cause of vaginitis/vaginosis, and the most common, non-viral sexually transmitted disease in the world.

Both tests, the OSOM® Trichomonas Rapid Test launched this past spring, and this new bacterial vaginosis rapid test, detect pathogenic antigens directly from vaginal swabs. Results for both tests are rapid, occurring within approximately 10 minutes.

Both of these point-of-care tests are useful to sites providing women's health diagnosis and treatment, including hospital emergency room physicians, OB/GYN physicians, public health labs, STD clinics, reference labs, and other sites that perform STD testing. The use of these two tests will help physicians to diagnose two common causes of vulvo/vaginal symptoms. There are an estimated 10 million office visits each year by women exhibiting symptoms consistent with vaginitis/vaginosis.