T. vaginalis is a gender discriminating parasite, and all women are susceptible to infection. Female patients display a broad spectrum of symptomalogy, ranging from some minor discomfort to severe inflammation, irritation and distress. Although most men become infected after intercourse with an infected partner, their disease is mostly asymptomatic. Trichomoniasis can usually be treated with nitroimidazoles, which continue to be the only efficacious trichomonocidal drug. The drug is less than ideal, however, since it has been found to be mutagenic and teratogenic, and side effects from drug therapy include nausea, vomiting, neutropenia, headache and dizziness. Reports of T vaginalis resistant to metranidazole show that alternative strategies for controlling this parasite are urgently needed. Finally attention recently focused on epidemiological evidence showing the predisposition of women with trichomoniasis for HIV infection. Equally noteworthy is the finding that infection by T. vaginalis can cause an adverse pregnancy outcome. Currently, the laboratory is working on two major nutrient acquisition pathways, whose elucidation may lead to the development of second generation drug treatment of this disease.
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