Prevalence of Trichomoniasis

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How common is trichomoniasis?

Trichomoniasis is the most common curable sexually transmitted disease. It is more common than both chlamydia and gonorrhea. It is estimated that in the United States 7.4 million new cases of trichomoniasis appear annually compared with 3 million cases of chlamydia and 718,000 cases of gonorrhea.1,2

Prevalence of Trichomoniasis in Selected Populations

Bar graph showing the prevalence of Trichomoniasis vaginalis in various populations. Prevalence rates are 13.8 percent of adolescent females, 17.9 percent of women in STD clinics, 4.8 percent of women in college clinics, 6.4 percent of military women on active duty, and 13.1 percent of men in STD clinics.

In late 2007, researchers with the CDC reported a 3.1% prevalence of T. vaginalis infection in a sample of 3,754 women aged 14-49.3 The prevalence of trichomoniasis in women varies greatly depending on the population studied. A study of women reporting to a college clinic for routine reproductive care appointments found a trichomoniasis prevalence of 4.8%.4 Several studies have shown a much higher prevalence of infection (10-18.5%) among young women living in urban areas,5-10 and the prevalence in inner city STD clinics is typically close to 25%.18

Men are not diagnosed with trichomoniasis as frequently as women. Two primary reasons for this are that the symptoms of Trichomonas infection are less pronounced in men, and the detection of infection is more complicated. Studies of male STD clinic patient populations have reported prevalences between 11 and 17%.14-17 The prevalence of trichomoniasis among male sexual partners of infected women is over 73%.19

The aforementioned CDC study showed a large racial disparity among women infected with T. vaginalis. The prevalence of trichomoniasis among non-Hispanic black women was 10.3 times higher than that of non-Hispanic white or Mexican American women (13.3% vs. 1.3% and 1.8%, respectively.)3

  1. Weinstock H, Berman S, Cates W Jr. Sexually transmitted diseases among American youth: incidence and prevalence estimates, 2000. Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2004 Jan-Feb;36(1):6-10.
  2. Soper D. Trichomoniasis: under control or undercontrolled? Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2004 Jan;190(1):281-90.
  3. Sutton M, Sternberg M, Koumans EH, McQuillan G, Berman S, Markowitz L. The prevalence of Trichomonas vaginalis infection among reproductive-age women in the United States, 2001-2004. Clin Infect Dis. 2007 Nov 15;45(10):1319-26. Epub 2007 Oct 15.
  4. Thornton AC, Dale T, Fortenberry D, Logan TK. Occurrence of trichomoniasis in college women [abstract]. Abstracts of the 15th ISSTDR 2003; July 27-30; Ottawa, Canada.
  5. Wiesenfeld HC, Lowry DL, Heine RP, Krohn MA, Bittner H, Kellinger K, Shultz M, Sweet RL. Self-collection of vaginal swabs for the detection of Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis: opportunity to encourage sexually transmitted disease testing among adolescents. Sex Transm Dis. 2001 Jun;28(6):321-5.
  6. Smith K, Harrington K, Wingood G, Oh MK, Hook EW 3rd, DiClemente RJ. Self-obtained vaginal swabs for diagnosis of treatable sexually transmitted diseases in adolescent girls. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2001 Jun;155(6):676-9.
  7. Ohlemeyer CL, Hornberger LL, Lynch DA, Swierkosz EM. Diagnosis of Trichomonas vaginalis in adolescent females: InPouch TV culture versus wet-mount microscopy. J Adolesc Health. 1998 Mar;22(3):205-8.
  8. Holland-Hall CM, Wiesenfeld HC, Murray PJ. Self-collected vaginal swabs for the detection of multiple sexually transmitted infections in adolescent girls. J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2002 Dec;15(5):307-13.
  9. Huppert JS, Mortensen JE, Reed JL, Kahn JA, Rich KD, Miller WC, Hobbs MM. Rapid antigen testing compares favorably with transcription-mediated amplification assay for the detection of Trichomonas vaginalis in young women. Clin Infect Dis. 2007 Jul 15;45(2):194-8. Epub 2007 Jun 6.
  10. Diclemente RJ, Wingood GM, Crosby RA, Rose E, Lang D, Pillay A, Papp J, Faushy C. A descriptive analysis of STD prevalence among urban pregnant African-American teens: data from a pilot study. J Adolesc Health. 2004 May;34(5):376-83.
  11. Wendel KA, Erbelding EJ, Gaydos CA, Rompalo AM. Trichomonas vaginalis polymerase chain reaction compared with standard diagnostic and therapeutic protocols for detection and treatment of vaginal trichomoniasis. Clin Infect Dis. 2002 Sep 1;35(5):576-80. Epub 2002 Aug 6.
  12. Kaydos SC, Swygard H, Wise SL, Sena AC, Leone PA, Miller WC, Cohen MS, Hobbs MM. Development and validation of a PCR-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with urine for use in clinical research settings to detect Trichomonas vaginalis in women. J Clin Microbiol. 2002 Jan;40(1):89-95.
  13. Lawing LF, Hedges SR, Schwebke JR. Detection of trichomonosis in vaginal and urine specimens from women by culture and PCR. J Clin Microbiol. 2000 Oct;38(10):3585-8.
  14. Krieger JN, Jenny C, Verdon M, Siegel N, Springwater R, Critchlow CW, Holmes KK. Clinical manifestations of trichomoniasis in men. Ann Intern Med. 1993 Jun 1;118(11):844-9.
  15. Wendel KA, Erbelding EJ, Gaydos CA, Rompalo AM. Use of urine polymerase chain reaction to define the prevalence and clinical presentation of Trichomonas vaginalis in men attending an STD clinic. Sex Transm Infect. 2003 Apr;79(2):151-3.
  16. Schwebke JR, Hook EW 3rd. High rates of Trichomonas vaginalis among men attending a sexually transmitted diseases clinic: implications for screening and urethritis management. J Infect Dis. 2003 Aug 1;188(3):465-8. Epub 2003 Jul 10.
  17. Borchardt KA, al-Haraci S, Maida N. Prevalence of Trichomonas vaginalis in a male sexually transmitted disease clinic population by interview, wet mount microscopy, and the InPouch TV test. Genitourin Med. 1995 Dec;71(6):405-6.
  18. Schwebke JR, Burgess D. Trichomoniasis. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2004 Oct;17(4):794-803, table of contents.
  19. Hobbs MM, Lapple DM, Lawing LF, Schwebke JR, Cohen MS, Swygard H, Atashili J, Leone PA, Miller WC, Seña AC. Methods for detection of Trichomonas vaginalis in the male partners of infected women: implications for control of trichomoniasis. J Clin Microbiol. 2006 Nov;44(11):3994-9. Epub 2006 Sep 13.

Trichomoniasis is the most common curable sexually transmitted disease. It is more common than both chlamydia and gonorrhea. It is estimated that in the United States 7.4 million new cases of trichomoniasis appear annually compared with 3 million cases of chlamydia and 718,000 cases of gonorrhea.1,2