[Question #9009] Risk for transmitting Trich

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37 months ago
I’ll make it quick. I had what seemed to be protected vaginal sex with CSW last July. I tested for all things but trich as it was not offered. I did not have sex with wife till April of this year. If In the unlikely event I did have trich, would of it self resolved
At the point or would my wife be at risk?

Thanks in advance
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
37 months ago
Welcome back (6 years later). Thanks for your continued confidence in the forum.

There have been surprisingly few studies of the natural course of trichomoniasis in men. There are no data on which to estimate the risk of infection from exposure to an infected partner, let alone to a partner of unknown trichomonas status; no data on the proportion of infected men who develop symptoms (except obviously that's very low, my guess is under 10%); or how long trich persists in untreated men. The infection sometimes shows up in monogamous women many years after either partner has had sex with anyone else, but whether most of those infections have been dormant in the woman or if she was more recently infected by her infected asymptomatic partner still isn't known.

Having said all that, having had condom protected sex last July, you can safely assume you could not have acquired trichomonas anyway. If somehow you had it, it likely would have cleared up by April, although that's uncertain. But all things considered, I really wound't worry about this.

I hope this Information is helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD
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