During urination, contact of urine with the irritated vulva causes burning. The urethra may also be infected, making urination uncomfortable. Some infected women have no symptoms. Other trichomonads live in the mouth and intestines without causing disease. Trichomonas Vaginalis is transmitted during contact with vaginal or urethral secretions.
Men usually have no symptoms but carry the microbe in the urethra or prostate.
Trichomonads can also be transferred during sexual intimacy between two women if infected vaginal secretions from one woman contact her partner's vulva. The incubation period is about 4 to 28 days after contact with infection. Non-sexual transmission of trichomonads is possible. As trichomonads survive best in warm, moist environments, the possibility of infection transmitted in whirlpools or similar warm public baths exists. A higher pH of vaginal secretions is also a clue to infection.