What is trichomoniasis?

The question of the week? The question really caught me off guard and made me slow down, as it means that not everyone knows about this infection. “What is trichomoniasis?” a young woman asked me this week when she called to schedule her STI testing. 

Some may have never even heard the word “trichomoniasis” or “trich” (short for trichomoniasis and pronounced the same as “trick,” you know like magic).

But trich is not magical. It does not just appear out of nowhere. It is passed from person to person through sexual contact.

Maybe hearing the word “trich” makes you think of “trick or treat,” the playful phrase chanted during Halloween as children go door to door hoping to collect treats. Just like Halloween “treats” are passed from person to person, trich can be passed from person to person through sexual contact. And this is not child’s play.

Reports show that trichomoniasis is one of the most widely spread sexually transmitted infections and it affects millions of people all over the world. What you thought was a sexual “treat” could have actually given you “trich.”  

Trichomoniasis is caused by a parasite and can be asymptomatic, which means a person can have it without showing any symptoms. In 2021, the Center for Disease Control reported that 70-85% of people infect with trich had no symptoms. Many cases go untreaded because they are undiagnosed.