Trichomonas is also called trichomoniasis or TV. It’s an STI caused by a tiny organism called Trichomonas vaginalis. It’s more commonly diagnosed in women than men and is usually easy to cure with antibiotics.
Getting tested is the only way to know for sure if you have trichomonas.
If trichomonas is not treated, it’s unlikely to cause any serious health problems, but any symptoms are unlikely to go away on their own. Also:
Until the trichomonas has gone away you can pass it on to other people.
People with trichomonas or other STIs may be more likely to get or pass on HIV.
It’s a good idea to get tested for STIs at least once a year and whenever you have a new sexual partner.
Many people with trichomonas won’t have any symptoms.
If symptoms do appear, it’s usually within a month of being infected.
Trichomonas symptoms in women
Many women have trichomonas without symptoms, but if symptoms do occur, they may include:
Being sore or itchy in and around the vagina.
Increased vaginal discharge that is unusual for you. It may be frothy or yellow and often smells bad.
Pain when you pee.
Trichomonas symptoms in men
It is rare for men to get symptoms of trichomonas, but if they do get symptoms, these may include:
Discharge from the tip of the penis, which may be thin and whitish.
Pain or a burning feeling when you pee.
A red, sore, or swollen foreskin.
Cyber Essentials Plus
You can do a trichomonas test at any time.
A test can’t always detect trichomonas in the first few weeks. If it’s less than 4 weeks since you might have been exposed to trichomonas, you can still do a test now, but you may need another test later.
If you have any symptoms, get tested at a sexual health service as soon as possible.
Our trichomonas tests are only for people with no symptoms.
Men need to give a urine sample to be tested for trichomonas.
Women need to swab the vagina to be tested for trichomonas. This is simple to do. We’ll send you a swab and some easy-to-follow instructions. We have detailed guidance for all our our self sampling tests.
We test for trichomonas as part of our Comprehensive STI test kit which also tests for more common STIs such as chlamydia and gonorrhoea.
As soon as your trichomonas test results are ready, we’ll contact you with details of how to access them securely online.
Once we’ve received your sample, you’ll usually get your online results in 2 to 5 days.
You can choose to be contacted by email or text.
If your trichomonas test is positive, it’s important to get treated with antibiotics at a sexual health service as soon as possible. You can show them your online test result or print it out.
We will give you details for your local treatment, help and advice services.
Your current or recent sexual partners will need to be tested for trichomonas and may need treatment. Sexual health services may be able to help you contact them anonymously.
Don’t have any sex until 7 days after both you and your sexual partner(s) have finished all treatment.
Our service is completely confidential. We won’t tell anyone else about your trichomonas test.
We don’t share your results with anyone else but if you test positive for trichomonas, you will need to share your result with a sexual health clinic to get the right treatment.
All our tests are delivered in plain packaging.
We have procedures in place to keep your data secure. See our FAQs for more information.
All our tests are carried out by an expert STI testing laboratory, but no STI tests can be guaranteed to be 100% accurate.
It is very unlikely that you’ll get a positive result if you don’t have trichomonas.
Trichomonas tests for men are generally less accurate than tests for women and may give a negative result even when you do have trichomonas.
If your test result is negative but you start to get symptoms or a sexual partner tests positive for trichomonas, you should go to a sexual health clinic for a further test.
Test kits
These products are appropriate if you suspect you're infected with Trichomonas