Resolved question:
My wife was diagnosed with Trichomoniasis today. We have been in a faithful marriage for 5 years, and she has had several urine/blood tests (UTI, yeast infection, etc.) and OB visits since we met. I am a pilot, have yearly pee tests and blood work done on a normal basis. Would this have not shown up on one of our tests previously??
Submitted:
4 Days
Category:
Family Physician-GP
Hello. Thank you for posting your query at DoctorSpring.com
I understand your concern.
Trichomoniasis, as you know is a sexually transmitted disease and normally has an incubation period of 5-28 days. In some rare cases, it can be present in the urinary tract for a long time before the signs and symptoms are manifested. However on testing though, it can be diagnosed even if it is in latent stage.
Did she ever have any pain/burning/ or any green colored foul smelling discharge previously? Did you ever experience such symptoms? Since it is a STD, it is better to rule it out in both partners. If she was tested for it before, and it didn't show up, that means she probably got the disease recently.
Feel free to discuss further,
Regards.
Neither of us have ever had any symptoms and been together for five years. This started with abdomen pain over the past few days. We went to our family doctor today who ordered lab work and a CT scan fearing it could be appendix issues. The CT scan showed an inflamed bowel which the doctor attributed to the abdomen pain and gastroenteritis. The lab work seemed scrambled and the front desk girl was found runing back and forth having issues with my wifes paperwork. My main question would be that in my wifes previous UTI/yeast screenings, would the trich have not showed up then assuming she were infected? I understand this could have been dormant in my body for many years, if that were the case then I would think that she would have been infected from me some time ago. Assuming she were infected 5 years old patientago, would the normal lab results she would have recieved during a normal UTI, yeast infection, or OBGYN screening show trichomoniasas? Were leaning toward her paperwork getting switched with someone else, obviously I'm getting tested as soon as possible.
Hello. Thank you for the follow up query.
The problem with trichinomoniasis is it can be very difficult to diagnose in dormant cases. It has a poor sensitivity and in a lot of cases it is very difficult to predict when is the exact time of contracting the disease. Yes it is absolutely possible that it has been dormant for a long time, and hence it was not picked up.
Even during screening for other STDs, and without any actuve symptoms, the diagnosis can be missed and the other values will be normal.
In your case, you should be also be examined and an urethral sample will be more sensitive than an urine sample.
As i said before, since the sensitivity is poor, it could have been missed in earlier screening exams.
You both can take Tab. Metronidazole 400 mg thrice daily for 7 days, and that will be able to cure the infection. Normally both the partners are treated together, and hence i am suggesting this for both of you.
Hope this is helpful.
Regards