Empiema por Trichomona hominis / Empyema by Trichomona hominis

El empiema pleural es una de las complicaciones de las infecciones del tracto respiratorio inferior y se caracteriza por la presencia de pus en la toracocentesis. Raramente Trichomonas hominis está asociada al empiema como agente causal. En este artículo presentamos el caso de una mujer de 39 años que desarrolló un empiema causado por T. hominis, además de una revisión de la literatura disponible de esta rara infección. Hasta donde sabemos, este es el primer caso de empiema pleural causado por Trichomona hominis reportado en México (AU)

Pleural empyema is one of the complications of lower respiratory tract infections and is characterized by the presence of pus on thoracentesis. Trichomonas hominis is rarely associated with empyema as the causative agent. In this article we present the case of a 39-year-old woman who developed an empyema caused by T. hominis, as well as a review of the available literature on this rare infection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of pleural empyema caused by Trichomona hominis reported in Mexico (AU)

Strategies by which some pathogenic trichomonads integrate diverse signals in the decision-marking process

The interaction between each one of Trichomonas vaginalis and Tritrichomonas foetus with their hosts is a complex process in which components associated to the cell surfaces of both parasites and host epithelial cells, and also to soluble components found in vaginal/urethral secretions, are involved. Either cytoadhesion or the cytotoxicity exerted by parasites to host cells can be dictated by virulence factors such as adhesins, cysteine proteinases, laminin-binding proteins, integrins, integrin-like molecules, a cell detachment factor, a pore-forming protein, and glycosidases among others. How trichomonads manipulate informations from the extracellular medium, transduce such informations, and respond to them by stimulating the activities of some surface molecules and/or releasing enzymes are the aspects concerning trichomonal virulence which are here briefly reviewed and discussed.

Hemolytic activity of fresh isolates and clones of trichomonas gallinae

In in vitro assay the hemolytic activity of live isolates and clones of trichomonas gallinae was investigated. The fresh isolates and clones were tested against human erythrocytes of groups A, B, AB and O, and against erythrocytes of six adult animals of different species (rabbit, rat, chicken, horse, bovine and sheep). Results showed that each of the isolates and clones tested lysed all human blood groups, as well as rabbit, rat, chicken, horse, bovine and sheep erythrocytes. No hemolysin released by the parasites could be identified. Parasite culture supernatants of hemolysis assays, tested in the presence of human erythrocytes did not induce any hemolytic activity. Trichomonads culture supernatants from 18, 24, and 48 hr extracts of sonicated parasites or cold killed organisms tested with human erythrocytes did not exhibit hemolysis. Although an hemolytic activity of T. gallinae was clearly demonstrated, a relationship between hemolysis and cell pathogenicity is not yet clearly established

Prevalence of trichomonas gallinae from the upper digestive tract of the common pigeon, columba livia in the southern Brazilian State, Rio Grande do Sul

Trichomonas gallinae (Rivolta, 1878) is a parasitic protozoan of the upper digestive tract and various organs of different avian groups, being common among the columbids, was isolated described and its prevalence studies in the southern brazilian state, Rio Grande do Sul. The morphology study of the live speciemens done by examinations of fresh and stained specimens, showed that the T. gallinae isolated has the same morphological characteristics as the upper digestive tract trichomonads previously described by other authors