Researchers hope the new research will throw light on the parasite estimated to infect 170 million people a year worldwide, including 8 million in North America. Trichomoniasis is the most common curable STD in young, sexually active women.
According to AP reports, the deciphering of the gene was done by a team led by Jane Carlton, Ph.D., an Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Parasitology at New York University School of Medicine, in a span of four years.
They published the draft sequence of the parasite's genome in the Jan. 12, 2007, issue of the journal Science.
Trichomoniasis is caused by the single-celled protozoan parasite, Trichomonas vaginalis. The vagina is the most common site of infection in women, and the urethra (urine canal) is the most common site of infection in men. The parasite is sexually transmitted through penis-to-vagina intercourse or vulva-to-vulva (the genital area outside the vagina) contact with an infected partner. Women can acquire the disease from infected men or women, but men usually contract it only from infected women.
According to Dr. Jane Carlton, a parasite specialist, "There are a huge number of people infected out there, but they don't know it so you don't know it." However, the disease is easily curable, with a drug called Flagyl but many people go undiagnosed and thus continue spreading it.
Both men and women can be infected, although it is more common in women. But men usually suffer no symptoms, while about half of women do, reporting such problems as vaginal itching and a fishy-smelling frothy discharge.
Trichomoniasis can affect pregnant woman by causing premature birth or low-weight babies. It's also linked to pelvic inflammatory disease.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which funded the genome work said, "The genetic mapping is a very strong step in the right direction with regard to a parasite we still have not fully appreciated."
