Trichomoniasis is a rather unpleasant infectious disease that is transmitted through unprotected intercourse with an infected partner. The cause of this pathology is the causative agent - Trichomonas vaginal. However, given the bright clinic and simple diagnosis, the diagnosis is set fairly quickly. Next, we will describe in detail how to detect trichomonads in the smear.
Laboratory Trichomonas Testing
When the patient addresses a gynecologist with characteristic complaints, he will certainly take a smear on the flora of the vagina, the urethra and the cervical canal. Before taking biomaterial from the genitals, a woman should not urinate for 2 hours and refrain from sexual intercourse for at least 24 hours.
The lab technician receives the obtained native smear by means of a microscope or stains it on Gram (methylene blue). A smear for trichomoniasis can be colored according to Romanovsky-Giemsa, then under the microscope you can see the flagella Trichomonas and the undulating membrane. This method of diagnosis, although it is the cheapest, but it is the least reliable (the probability of smear detection of trichomonads is from 33% to 80%). Informativeness of this method depends on the following factors: the number of pathogens, the state of local immunity, the treatment being conducted and the professionalism of the laboratory assistant.
Analyzes for trichomoniasis in women
The cultural method of diagnosis (sowing the material on nutrient media to detect the growth of Trichomonas colonies) is extremely rare, since it takes a long time.
Currently, there are highly reliable methods for diagnosing Trichomonas. Such studies include a polymerase chain reaction. It is the most reliable among all existing methods (it can confirm the presence of trichomoniasis even with negative results of the remaining analyzes). Fragments of Trichomonas DNA are found in the contents of the cervical canal.
Immunoenzyme method (ELISA) is used in diagnostics rarely, its informativeness is about 80%. The professionalism of the laboratory assistant plays an important role in the informativeness of this method.
Thus, we examined all existing methods of diagnosing trichomoniasis in women . More often, having cleverly collected complaints, the anamnesis of illness and having received results of a smear, the doctor can already put the correct diagnosis and prescribe a treatment. In rare cases, PCR diagnosis is used to verify the diagnosis.