Trichomonas vaginalis is one tricky customer. It can be known as trichomonas, trichomoniasis or just TV. You can get it without even having sex – which really doesn’t seem fair. “In about 15% of cases, trichomonas is present naturally in the body,” explains Gabrielle Downey, a consultant gynaecologist at BMI and NHS hospitals in Birmingham. “Out of the blue, it will fl are up, triggered by something like a change of shower gel or a heavy period.” But up to 50% of women and men won’t get any symptoms. So the tiny parasite that causes the infection could be happily making a home in your vagina – or, for a guy, inside his penis – and you’ll be none the wiser. Even if you get symptoms, they might not appear for a month. And then, the symptoms are so similar to thrush you’ll probably think you’ve got that. “For women, symptoms are itching, soreness around the vagina that can make sex hurt, pain when you wee and a discharge (with a fi shy smell – di erent from the yeasty smell of thrush). For guys, the symptoms are discharge and burning when they urinate.”
If left untreated, trichomonas has been known to block fallopian tubes, cause ectopic pregnancies and, in women who do get pregnant, premature births. Guys can get scarring inside their penis, which makes going to the toilet painful although, thankfully, that’s rare. So what can we do to spot this STI? If you have no symptoms, get yourself tested. “Trichomonas can be picked up with a urine test or swab, or your doctor might do a cervical exam – it’s easy to spot,” says Gabrielle Downey. The good news is that antibiotic treatment is 95% effective and should leave you symptom-free.
