Trichomonas Vaginalis Infections in the Male

Abstract

Trichomonas vaginalis infections in the male have received scant attention.- Liston and Lees (1940) reported that they could not find a single paper on the subject in any medical journal published in Great Britain, and Freed (1945) claimed that his two cases of T. vaginalis urethritis were the first to be reported in South African medical literature. American and Continental observers have given the subject more attention, but the results recorded differ considerably. This lack of interest is the more remarkable bccause the modes of transmission of T. vaginalis to the female have been extensively investigated without any really satisfactory conclusions. Although the vaginitis caused by the organism is not in any way a major disease, the vaginal discharge, irrita- tion, and dyspareunia often associated with it frequently require prolonged medical treatment. The coital origin of many of these infections is receiving more recognition but there is still little unanimity regarding trichomonas infections in the male. If, as appears probable, many patients with trichomonas vaginitis are infected and reinfected by coitus, then the study of the infected male becomes a matter of considerable importance, for, as a recent annotation (Lancet. 1953) aptly commented, Human trichomoniasis is one of those unspectacular conditions which, although troublesome and often intractable, causes neither death nor acute illness... and hence has escaped the attention it really deserves.