Life Cycle, Incubation Period, Morphology

Life Cycle

http://www.dpd.cdc.gov/dpdx/HTML/ImageLibrary/Trichomoniasis_il.htm

Incubation Period

• Incubation Period is typically 5 to 28 days
• Trichomonas vaginalis is pathogenic in the genitourinary tract
• In women, it lives in the vagina and the Skene's glands (of the urethra)
• In men, it lives in the urethra
• Multiplies when vaginal conditions become more basic than usual (normal pH is 3.8 to 4.2)
• No known cystic form
• May survive in a host for 2+ years

Morphology

• T. vaginalis is a pear-shaped protozoan 10-23µm (about the size of a white blood cell)
• Four flagella produce movement and a fifth may help with direction
• High motility contributes to its pathogenicity
• Reproduces through binary fission
  

Various shapes of T. vaginalis, as seen through a scanning electron microscope

http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?pid=S0717-77122002000100003&script=sci_arttext&tlng=en