Trichomoniasis (often called "trich") is a sexually transmitted disease (STD). STDs are infections that spread through sex (vaginal, oral, or anal). Treatment with antibiotics can help prevent long-lasting problems and stop the infection from spreading to others.

Treatment:

• Make sure that your teen takes the antibiotics exactly as the health care provider recommended. If they don't, the infection could come back.
• Your teen needs to tell all sexual partners from the past 2 months to get treatment too. Even if they don't have symptoms, they could still have trich. So they need to get treated too.
• Your teen should not have sex until:
  • Treatment is done and there are no more signs of trich (such as burning or pain when peeing or discharge from the penis or vagina). This is usually at least 1 week after treatment.
  • Their partners have been treated and have no signs of trich.

Follow up:

• Take your teen for follow-up STD testing as recommended by the health care provider.
• Be sure your teen gets all doses of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine (shot). HPV is an STD that can lead to some kinds of cancer and genital warts.

Your teen:

• is not taking the medicine
• is not getting better after taking the medicine as directed
• develops signs of an STD (belly pain, fever, abnormal discharge, pain when peeing, or genital warts or sores)

• Your daughter has severe belly pain.
• Your son has swelling or severe pain in his testicles.

What can happen if trich is not treated? Girls who don't get treatment for trich are more likely to:

• get HIV (the virus that causes AIDS)
• have fertility problems (trouble getting pregnant)
• get cancer of the cervix

Guys who don't get treatment for trich are more likely to:

• have swelling and irritation of the tubes in the back of the testicles
• have swelling and irritation in the prostate, the urethra, or the skin around the head of the penis
• have fertility problems (be unable to father children)
• get prostate cancer

How can my teen avoid getting another STD? The best way to avoid an STD is not to have sex (vaginal, oral, or anal).

Teens who do have sex should:

• Use a condom every time they have sex (vaginal, oral, or anal).
• Have only one partner, who has already been tested and does not have an STD. That partner should not have sex with other people.