If you are interested in obtaining this video or in specific video commissions, please contact us . The main signs of a Trichomonas infection in women are abdominal pain, itching, and presence of a foul-smelling discharge with abundant leukocytes, while in men the infection is mostly asymptomatic, although it can sometimes lead to urethritis, prostatitis, and epididymitis. Infection wuth this organism is also associated with severe complications, such as infertility and enhanced predisposition to neoplastic transformation in cervical tissues. Most people infected with Trichomonas are asymptomatic. Symptomatic infections are characterized by a white discharge from the genital tract and itching.
Diagnosis depends on finding trophozoites in secretions of the genital tract from men or women.
In cases where the numbers of organisms are very low, the trophozoites can be cultured to increase their numbers. There is no cyst in the life cycle, so transmission is via the trophozoite stage. There is also a median rod called the axostyle which is characteristic of the trichomonads however, this is not clearly visible without staining the cells. Pathogenesis of Trichomonas infections occurs by cytopathogenicity against vaginal epithelial cells. Adhesion of the parasite to the target cell is essential for the maintenance of infection and for cytopathogenicity.