Trichomonas vaginalis organisms, which cause trichomoniasis. Image: Parasite Image Library, CDC
You’ve probably heard of MRSA, which is a strain of Staphylococcus aureus that evolved resistance to all kinds of antibiotics. You also might have heard of other “superbugs,” like Clostridium difficile, aka “C. diff,” or the emerging strains of bacteria that cause antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea. However, other infectious diseases are slowly evolving drug resistance too, but they’re not grabbing headlines. One such disease is trichomoniasis.
We are only starting to learn about drug-resistant trich — and what it means for those who have it.
Trichomonas vaginalis is the single-celled parasite that causes trichomoniasis, or trich (pronounced “trick”). Symptoms can include vaginal discharge (which might have a bad odor), penile burning or discharge, spotting, and itching or swelling in the genital area — but around 70 percent of trich infections are asymptomatic.
Despite its appearance on our list of 10 STDs you’ve probably never heard of, trich is actually the most common curable sexually transmitted disease out there — around 3.7 million Americans are currently infected with trich. When you consider that trich rarely has symptoms, its ubiquity might not even seem all that surprising — there are millions of infections, right under our noses, but mostly unknown and not being aggressively screened for. STD testing doesn’t always include screening for trich, especially in males, who usually don’t have symptoms and can transmit it to others unknowingly. This might not be so bad if trich didn’t cause complications with pregnancy or make it easier to be infected with HIV. Continue reading