Comparison of culture media for the growth of Trichomonas vaginalis.

A numberofdifferent mediaarenowinusefor theculture ofTrichomonas vaginalis. Themedium described byFeinberg andWhittington (1957) has beenusedroutinely inthislaboratory since 1957. Whittington foundthatitwasa moresensitive methodofdetecting theflagellate insecretions from thefemale genital tract thandirect microscopical examination offresh smears. Thissuperiority of cultures overfreshsmearswasnot,however, apparent intheexamination ofurethral secretions frommen withnon-gonococcal urethritis. This disparity maybeduetothenumberofT.vaginalis intheinoculum, astheorganisms areusually more plentiful inmaterial fromthefemale thanfrom themalegenital tract. Whittington (1966)has stated thataninoculum oftheorderof5x104 trithomonads isgenerally needed toinitiate growth intheFeinberg-Whittington medium. The minimalinoculumof trichomonads to initiate growth intheFeinberg-Whittington medium underaerobic andanaerobic conditions wasthereforedetermined andcompared withthatforthe mediumdescribed by Squires andMcFadzean (1962)and the cysteine-peptone-liver-maltose (C.P.L.M.) mediumdescribed by Johnsonand Trussell (1943), andquotedbyTrussell (1947). Parallel cultures ofsecretions frommaleandfemale patients werealso madewithmedia, andtheresults werecompared withthose ofdirect microscopy of fresh material.