What causes Trichomonas?

Trichomonas can be divided into vaginal Trichomonas, human Trichomonas and oral Trichomonas. When these three types of Trichomonas parasitize in the human urogenital tract, intestines and oral cavity, trichomoniasis will occur, which is a parasitic disease. The infection can be spread through sexual intercourse and reproductive organs and is contagious. What exactly causes Trichomonas? Please see the detailed introduction below.

The life cycle of Trichomonas vaginalis only has a trophozoite stage and no cyst stage. The living body is colorless and transparent, has refractive properties, has various body shapes and is highly active. After fixation and staining, it is pear-shaped, with a body length of 7 to 23 μm, a vesicular nucleus at the front end, and 5 basal bodies arranged in a ring on the upper edge of the nucleus, from which 5 flagella are emitted: 4 anterior flagella and 1 posterior flagellum. There is a thin and transparent axis that runs through the body and extends out of the body from the rear end. In the front 1/2 of the outer side of the body, there is a wavy membrane, whose outer edge is connected to the posterior flagellum extending backward. The insect body moves forward with the help of the swinging of flagella, and moves in a rotational manner by the wave motion of the oscillating membrane. There are dark-stained granules in the cytoplasm, which are hydrogenosomes unique to this insect.

The pathogenicity of Trichomonas vaginalis varies with the worm strain and the host's physiological condition, immune function, endocrine system, and bacterial or fungal infection in the vagina. Women are especially prone to inflammation during pregnancy and when they have physiological disorders of the urogenital system. A few days after infection, the vaginal mucosa becomes congested and edematous, epithelial cells degenerate and fall off, and there is an inflammatory reaction of leukocytes. Due to the action of lactobacilli, the pH value of the vagina of healthy women is maintained between 3.8 and 4.4, which can inhibit the growth of other bacteria and is not conducive to the growth of Trichomonas. This is called the self-cleaning effect of the vagina. However, Trichomonas consumes glycogen in the vagina, hindering the fermentation of lactobacilli and affecting the concentration of lactic acid, thereby turning the vaginal pH to neutral or alkaline. The vaginal physiological cycle during pregnancy and menstruation makes the pH close to neutral, which is conducive to the reproduction of Trichomonas, resulting in a higher infection and recurrence rate.

In the early stages of infection, Trichomonas adhere to vaginal epithelial cells and produce extracellular toxic factors. In addition to the participation of at least four adhesion proteins (2-65KD), the adhesion process is also related to the amebatic deformation of Trichomonas. It has been reported that the toxic factors secreted by Trichomonas include: cell separation factor, two cysteine ​​proteases (30KD and 6KD), and a hemolytic toxin. Hemolysis may be the result of direct interaction between Trichomonas and red blood cells.