Prevalence of Trichomonas Vaginalis in Women with Precancerous and Indeterminate Lesions at Cytology

Trichomonas vaginalis was investigated by cervicovaginal cytology in pregnant and non-pregnant women receiving care at two public referral hospitals in Goiacircnia, Goias, Brazil. The frequency of Trichomonas vaginalis infection, the correlation between its presence and a diagnosis of precancerous and indeterminate lesions, and potential inflammatory changes in the vaginal epithelial cells in the presence of the parasite were evaluated.Overall, 359 Papanicolaou smears from 157 pregnant women and 202 non-pregnant women were evaluated.nbsp The principal inflammatory changes associated with the presence of T. vaginalis were registered.A second examiner reevaluated the slides. T. vaginalis infection was found in 46% of the slides, withprecancerous lesionsbeing found in 4.2% of the infected women.nbsp Perinuclear halos were the most common inflammatory change associated with the presence of the parasite.nbsp Adherence of the parasite to the vaginal epithelial cellsand ill-defined cytoplasmic borders were more commonly found in the group of pregnant patients.nbsp The prevalence of T. vaginalis was high in the present study, both in the pregnant and non-pregnant women.nbsp The socioeconomic level of the study population and the examinersrsquo experience played a particularly relevant role in the results obtained

Trichomonas vaginalis, Genetic Variation, and Pathogenicity: a Systematic Review

Trichomoniasis is a sexually transmitted infection that has been associated with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and cervical cancer.nbsp The objective of the present study was to conduct a systematic review of the literature to identify the genetic variations of Trichomonas vaginalis and their correlations with the vaginal environment in the human host. Two electronic databases, PubMed and the Virtual Health Library (Biblioteca Virtual de Sauacutede), were searched using Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS), respectively. The terms ldquoT. vaginalis and genetic variationrdquo and ldquoT. vaginalis and oxidative stressrdquo were searched to identify relevant original articles.nbsp The inclusion and exclusion criteria established took into consideration the specific characteristics of each article, thus guaranteeing the quality of the papers selected (the first and second tests of relevance).nbsp Two principal types of population structure of T. vaginalis were reported in the papers: type 1 and type 2.nbsp Type 1 parasites were associated with pathogenicity, as shown by findings of increased viral loads in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive women