New Korean study below [1].
Trichomoniasis is caused by Trichomonas vaginalis (T. vaginalis).
No, it's not what you may get from eating pork tartare (trichinosis).
"Trichomoniasis is a sexually transmitted infection" [2]
"There were about 122 million new cases of trichomoniasis in 2015" [2]
"About 70% ... men do not have symptoms when infected. [2]
"T. vaginalis infection in males has been found to cause asymptomatic urethritis and prostatitis. In the prostate, it may create chronic inflammation that may eventually lead to prostate cancer." [2] [3]
From the new study [1]:
"... seropositivity to T. vaginalis in patients with prostatic diseases was 19.7% (BPH: 18.7%, PCa: 22.7%) and it was significantly higher than the 1.7% of the comparing healthy group ..."
Presumably, percentages might vary appreciably by culture. The 2009 U.S. study [3] reported:
"Although not statistically significant, the magnitude of the association between T vaginalis-seropositive status and overall prostate cancer risk (OR = 1.23 ...) was similar to that reported previously. Furthermore, a seropositive status was associated with statistically significantly increased risks of extraprostatic prostate cancer (OR = 2.17 ...) and of cancer that would ultimately progress to bony metastases or prostate cancer-specific death (OR = 2.69 ...)"
-Patrick
[1] ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/308...
Korean J Parasitol. 2019 Feb;57(1):21-25. doi: 10.3347/kjp.2019.57.1.21. Epub 2019 Feb 26.
Comparison of Seropositivity to Trichomonas vaginalis between Men with Prostatic Tumor and Normal Men.
Kim JH1, Moon HS2, Kim KS2, Hwang HS3, Ryu JS1, Park SY2.
Author information
1
Department of Environmental Biology and Medical Parasitology, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul 04763, Korea.
2
Department of Urology, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul 04763, Korea.
3
Department of Family Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul 04763, Korea.
Abstract
Trichomoniasis is the most common curable sexually-transmitted infection. Most Trichomonas vaginalis-infected men are asymptomatic and can remain undiagnosed and untreated, and this has been thought to result in chronic persistent prostatic infection. Chronic inflammation is regarded as the major factor in the pathogenesis and progression of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostatic cancer (PCa). The aim of this study is to identify seropositivity to T. vaginalis in men with prostate tumors (BPH or PCa) visited to Hanyang University Hospital. A total of 183 men were enrolled between October 2013 and November 2014. They consisted of 139 with BPH (mean age: 64.0 ± 0.07) and 44 with prostate cancer (mean age: 73.3±0.18). We carried out ELISA to identify the seropositivity to T. vaginalis. Mixed lysate antigen extracted from 8 strains of T. vaginalis was used in the ELISA. Also 58 male outpatients visited to Health Promotion Center in Hanyang University Hospital were evaluated for comparing group. As a results, seropositivity to T. vaginalis in patients with prostatic diseases was 19.7% (BPH: 18.7%, PCa: 22.7%) and it was significantly higher than the 1.7% of the comparing healthy group (P = 0.001). Therefore, prostatic tumor showed higher seropositivity against T. vaginalis than normal men. As far as we know, this is the first report about seroprevalence in prostatic tumor in Korea.
KEYWORDS:
Trichomonas vaginalis; benign prostatic hyperplasia; prostate cancer; seropositivity
PMID: 30840795 DOI: 10.3347/kjp.2019.57.1.21
