Trichomonas vaginalis

Objectives Persistence of antibodies against
pathogens after antimicrobial treatment is a marker of
therapy failure or evolution to a chronic infection. The
kinetics of antibody production decrease following
antigen elimination is highly variable, and predicting the
duration of soluble immunity in infectious diseases is
often impossible. This hampers the development and use
of immunoassays for diagnostic and seroepidemiological
purposes. In the case of Trichomonas vaginalis infection,
the kinetics of antibody levels decrease following therapy
has never been studied. We thus investigated the
clearance of circulating anti-T. vaginalis IgGs after
pharmacological treatment in patients affected by
trichomoniasis.
Methods 18 female patients affected by acute
trichomoniasis were enrolled in this study. After
metronidazole therapy administration, subjects were
followed up monthly up to 5 months, and serum levels
of anti-T. vaginalis IgGs were measured by ELISA.
Results We showed that a successful therapy is
characterised by a relatively fast decline of specific
antibodies, until turning into negative by ELISA in
1–3 months. In a few patients we observed that the
persistence of anti-T. vaginalis antibodies was associated
with an evolution to chronic infection, which may be
due to treatment failure or to reinfection by untreated
sexual partners.
Conclusions Our results describe the direct correlation
between the decline of a specific humoral antiT. vaginalis response and an effective antimicrobial
therapy. These findings may facilitate the follow-up
approach to circumvent limitations in developing new
diagnostic tools and techniques routinely used in
microbiology laboratories to assess the presence of
T. vaginalis in clinical samples.

This review focused on potential regulatory mechanisms of Trichomonas vaginalis virulence properties, cytoadherence, cytotoxicity, phagocytosis, hemolysis, induction of apoptosis, and immune evasion in response to environmental factors of the human urogenital tract, iron, zinc, and polyamines. Understanding the multifactorial nature of trichomonal pathogenesis and its regulation may help to unravel the survival strategies of trichomonads and to implement prevention policies, opportune diagnosis, and alternative treatments for control of trichomoniasis.

Background: Trichomonas vaginalis infection is the most common curable sexually transmissible disease (STD) among women of reproductive age worldwide. Aims: To determine the prevalence rate and associated risk factors of Trichomonas vaginalis infection among undergraduate female students of Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria. Study Design: This is a cross-sectional, as well as institutional-based study. Methodology: Six Halls of residence were selected for screening and a total of two hundred (200) high vaginal swab samples were randomly collected from consenting female students and Original Research Article John et al.; ISRR, 6(1): 1-13, 2017; Article no.ISRR.34301 2 analyzed by wet mount preparation. Demographic and clinical information of the participants were obtained using prepared questionnaires. Results: Out of the 200 female students that were examined, 25 (12.5%) were positive for Trichomonas vaginalis infection. Among the 25 individuals who tested positive for T. vaginalis infection, only 2 (8.0%) were without symptoms associated with vaginal trichomoniasis, while the remaining 23 (92.0%) presented symptoms such as vaginal odour (20%), itching and discomfort (32%) and greenish yellow vaginal discharge (92%). Statistical analysis shows that there was no significant difference (P>0.05) in the prevalence rate of Trichomonas vaginalis infection among the study participants on the basis of: Age, Tribe, Religion and Study Level; except for Hall of residence. The occurrence of T. vaginalis infection particularly among the occupants of Hall 6 (45.0%) was significantly higher (P<0.05) compared to the occupants of other Halls of residence: Hall 3 (13.0%) and Hall 5 (6.3%). Meanwhile, there was no record of T. vaginalis infection in the rest of the Halls (Hall 1, 2 and 4). Risk factors associated with the occurrence of T. vaginalis infection among the study participants include: Sexual activities, douching, wearing of wet pant, sharing underwear, sharing sanitary facilities and use of sanitary pads among others. Conclusion: Trichomonas vaginalis infection exists among undergraduate female students of Babcock University. Improvement on the level of personal hygiene and toilet sanitation of Students' Halls of residence is very crucial to the control of non-veneral mode of transmission for T. vaginalis infection.

Trichomonas vaginalis accounts for almost half of all curable sexually transmitted infections and has also been associated with adverse outcomes of pregnancy and increased risk of HIV in women. Diagnosis of the condition by direct wet mount examination has a low sensitivity. Herein, we describe our experience with InPouch culture system for the detection of T. vaginalis. This prospective study was carried out from May 2003 to April 2004 among women presenting with genitourinary symptoms attending a primary health center clinic in Ballabhgarh, India. Two vaginal swabs (cotton tips) were obtained from each woman. The first swab was obtained from the lateral wall of vagina and was used to make a wet mount preparation. The second swab was obtained from the posterior fornix of the vagina and inoculated in the InPouch for culture of T. vaginalis. Of the 601 women, 22 were positive by direct microscopy for T. vaginalis while 40 were positive by culture. Overall, T. vaginalis accounted for ...

Trichomonas vaginalis has long been recognized as one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted infections. However, it is only in recent years that it has been appreciated that Trichomonas may play a critical role in amplifying human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission. Given the evidence that T. vaginalis likely promotes HIV infection, the apparent high level of Trichomonas infection in the African-American community is cause for concern. Even if T. vaginalis increases the risk of HIV transmission by a small or modest amount, it translates into a sizable population effect since Trichomonas is so common in this community. Therefore, control of trichomoniasis may represent an important avenue of control for the prevention of HIV transmission, particularly among African-Americans.

Las vaginitis mixtas son una patología de incidencia creciente, que requieren alto grado de sospecha diagnóstica y diagnóstico combinado entre la historia clínica y las pruebas analíticas microbiológicas. Entre vaginosis bacteriana, candidiasis y tricomoniasis sustentan la ocurrencia del 90% de los casos de vaginitis. Se describen nuevos microorganismos como el Atopobium vaginae, caracterizado por su resistencia a metronidazol. En las vaginosis recurrentes llama la atención la elevada incidencia de candida como co-infectante.

Palabras clave: Vaginitis – vaginosis – flora normal – desequilibrio de flora - Candida

Investigation of Trichomonas vaginalis through different methodologies during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to conduct a survey regarding the prevalence of trichomoniasis in pregnant patients and to evaluate the utility of different diagnostic methods. Two hundred and twenty three vaginal swab specimens from pregnant women were prospectively examined. Trichomonas vaginalis was investigated by various microscopic examinations, solid culture

El diagnóstico de laboratorio del parásito Trichomonas vaginalis, sigue siendo objeto de nuevos estudios. Así, Mendez y col., sugieren la utilización de un fijador-colorante con azul de metileno para el diagnóstico directo de este flagelado. En el presente trabajo se efectuó la ...

SUMMARYMembers of the family Trichomonadidae, mainly Trichomonas gallinae and Tetratrichomonas gallinarum, represent important parasites in birds with worldwide presence, since being reported in the 19th century. Especially Columbiformes, Falconiformes and Strigiformes can be severely affected by trichomonads, whereas the majority of infections in Galliformes and Anatiformes are subclinical although severe infections are occasionally reported. With the recent appearance of deadly infections in wild Passeriformes the protozoan parasite T. gallinae obtained greater attention which will be addressed in this review. Although light microscopy remains the method of choice to confirm the presence of trichomonads molecular studies were introduced in recent years, in order to characterize the parasites and to establish relationships between isolates. Isolation of trichomonads is a prerequisite for detailed in vitro and in vivo studies and different media are reported to obtain suitable mater...

The methanol extracts of leaves, flowers, stem and root barks of Cassia alata showed a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity. The activity was increased on fractionation (petrol, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate), the dichloromethane fraction of the flower extract being the most effective. No activity was shown against tested moulds.