Hossein Hooshyar, Parvin Rostamkhani, Mohsen Arbabi,
Volume 20, Issue 2 (6-2026)
Abstract
Background and objectives: Trichomoniasis is considered as the most common non-viral sexually transmitted diseases globally. Early diagnosis of Trichomonas vaginalis infection has an important role in effective treatment and controlling the infection and interrupt of transmission chain. The present narrative review was carried out to gather new data and evaluate the challenges of available methods of laboratory of T. vaginalis diagnosis.
Methods: With a broad review of the published literature and electronic international databases such as ISI Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, and Google Scholar was conducted to find relevant data reporting on existing and newly developed diagnostic methods for the identification of trichomoniasis diagnostic techniques in both sexes and covered 2000 up to 2025. The benefit and limitation of these methods were compared.
Results: This review article demonstrated wet mount preparation and examination under a light microscope accompanied by staining methods are the most frequently used worldwide. However, the sensitivity of this method is low. Direct microscopy examination accompanied by culturing or staining is a good-performance diagnostic strategy. Moreover, molecular and immunological-based methods are recommended to be used as complementary tests.
Conclusion: Direct microscopy examination is an economical and rapid method. The fully automated PCR system for the simultaneous identification of the most common vaginal pathogens can be established as a diagnostic strategy in non-endemic areas and developed countries.
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