Trichomonas vaginalis in a perinephric abscess. A case report.

A patient with chronic vulvo-vaginitis due to Trichomonas vaginalis, and obstructive uropathy associated with renal calculi, developed a perinephric abscess following trauma incurred in a motorcycle accident. T. vaginalis was seen on smear and cultured from the purulent drainage from the perinephric abscess. Although T. vaginalis is commonly pathogenic only to the lower genito-urinary system, the upper urinary tract may very rarely be involved by ascending infection. If this protozoan spreads to extraluminal sites the inflammatory potential is marked, as has been found in animals with experimental infection. Examination of a fresh smear of pus may be critically important in the diagnosis of closed-space infections of unknown etiology.