 In a recent study performed at Johns Hopkins it was found that sexually active American women should be tested for a vaginal parasite STD called Trichomonas vaginalis. The main investigator in this study, Charlotte Gaydos, M.S., Dr.P.H., found that women 40 years of age and older are twice as commonly infected in this age group than previously believed. The study suggests that screening is especially important because in many cases there are no symptoms.
Dr. Gaydos wrote, “We usually think of STDs as more prevalent in young people, but our study results clearly show that with Trichomonas, while too many young people have it, even more, older women are infected.”
The study followed 7,593 U.S. women between the ages of 18 and 89. Women 50 and older had the highest Trichomonas infection rate, at 13%. Women in their 40s were next, at 11%. The study believed to be the largest and most in-depth analysis of the STD ever performed in the United States collected information and samples from women in 28 states. The study demonstrated that 8.7% of all women tested were positive for Trichomonas. Previous estimates, using older, less reliable tests had suggested an overall infection rate of less than 4%. In this study, the infection rate was 8.5% in women ages 18 and 19, dropping slightly to 8.3% for women in their 20s.
Dr. Gaydos later suggested, “Trichomonas infections are quite treatable with antibiotics, these high numbers really warrant older women getting screened by their family physicians and gynecologists during routine check-ups to make sure they are not infected and are not inadvertently spreading it to others.”
Dr. Gaydos continued, “Testing is needed to prevent transmission of the parasite because some infected women and most infected men show no signs of the disease, such as liquid discharge from the vagina or penis, irritation while urinating and genital itching. Left untreated, trichomoniasis can lead to severe health problems. Trichomonas infection is closely tied to co-infection with HIV, easing transmission of the virus that causes AIDS.” Gaydos went on, “Trichomoniasis can also lead to inflammation of the vagina, urethra and cervix and to pelvic inflammatory disease, and in pregnant women, the infection has been known to cause premature labor and result in more low-birth-weight babies.”
Gaydos adds, “The public health threat of Trichomonas is compounded by the fact that, unlike other common STDs, such as the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae, confirmed cases of parasitic Trichomonas infection do not have to be reported to local public health officials and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
“What we are really witnessing with Trichomonas, especially in older women, is that no one ever looked, no one ever tested and diagnosed, and no one is really getting treated, so the infection persists year after year,” says Gaydos.
Last year a study looking at Trichomonas infection rates in men, where Trichomonas is even harder to detect, suggested that of the 500 men tested for all three common STDs at least 10 percent of all men participating in the study also carried the Trichomonas parasite. Gaydos suggests that solving the Trichomonas problem in men is also important because of the risk of re-infection and those instances in which women and men have multiple sex partners where all will need treatment.
The U.S. Center for Disease Control lists Trichomonas vaginalis as the most common sexually transmitted disease in the nation. They estimate 7.2 million men and women are infected each year. The World Health Organization estimates the annual rate of new infected people at 173 million.
If you are sexually active you should be checked yearly. If you have multiple partners, you and your partner should be checked regularly, even every 3 to 6 months for STDs.
For more inormation about Trichomonas Vaginal Infections, click here.
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