Tuberc Respir Dis.  2008 May;64(5):387-391. 10.4046/trd.2008.64.5.387.

A Case of Pulmonary Trichomoniasis in a Young Healthy Male

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Internal Medicine, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea. kimdh@dankook.ac.kr
  • 2Department of Pathology, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.

Abstract

Bronchopulmonary infections caused by trichomonads have been reported principally in patients with pre-existing pulmonary diseases, such as bronchial carcinoma, lung abscess, or bronchiectasis. Pulmonary trichomoniasis is most often caused by Trichomonas tenax, which is usually regarded as a harmless commensal organism of the human mouth. However, pulmonary infection may rarely be caused by other trichomonas species, including Trichomonas vaginalis from the genitourinary tract and Trichomonas hominis from the intestines. Because of the rarity of trichomonas pulmonary infection, and because of its close association with underlying lung and systemic disease, pulmonary trichomoniasis is considered an opportunistic infection. We recently treated a case of pulmonary trichomoniasis occurring in a young, healthy male without obvious underlying pulmonary or systemic illness. To our knowledge, there has been only one reported case of pulmonary trichomoniasis in Korea, and there have been only two reported cases of pulmonary trichomoniasis occurring in normal lung worldwide.

Keyword

Trichomonas; Lung; Pulmonary trichomoniasis

MeSH Terms

Bronchiectasis
Carcinoma, Bronchogenic
Humans
Intestines
Korea
Lung
Lung Abscess
Lung Diseases
Male
Mouth
Opportunistic Infections
Polymers
Trichomonas
Trichomonas vaginalis
Polymers

Figure

  • Figure 1 About 16 mm sized nodule was observed in right middle lung zone on simple chest X-ray (A). HRCT demonstrated about 14 mm sized, ill-defined, irregular shaped nodule with subtle ground glass attenuated halo on right upper posterior segment (B).

  • Figure 2 Fresh wet preparation of broncho-alveolar lavage fluid demonstrated numerous flagellated organisms showing jerky movement (A). A cytologic finding of bronchoalveolar lavage shows 4 conglomerated trichomonads with ovoid shapes and degenerated flagella (white arrow). Each trichomonad is about equal to the size of a neutrophil which is engulfed by macrophage (black arrow) (B). Papanicolaou, ×400.


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