A 26-year-old woman has an odorous vaginal discharge, lower abdominal pain, and difficulty urinating. Vaginal secretions are collected and sent to the laboratory for examination 3 hours af-ter collection. No motile organisms are observed on the wet preparation; however, T. vaginalis is suspected. Which one of the following statements explains this discrepancy?

Question

a. The infection is most likely bacterial; therefore a Gram stain should have been performed.
b. The specimen should have been refrige-rated before examination; consequently, the organism was compromised.
c. The time between collection and the mi-croscopic examination was prolonged, resulting in loss of motility.
d. No discrepancy is present; this organism in nonmotile.

Answer 1

C
The identification of T. vaginalis is often based on the examination of wet preparations of vagin-al and urethral discharges and prostatic secretions. This examination must be performed within 10 to 20 minutes after sample collection; if not, the organisms lose motility and may not be iden-tified. Several specimens may have to be examined for the detection of the organisms.