Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Parasitology 1735-7020 12 2 2017 06 13 251 259 Razieh TAVAKOLI OLIAEE Dept. of Parasitology and Mycology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran Zahra BABAEI Dept. of Parasitology and Mycology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran Gholam Reza HATAM Diagnostic Laboratory Sciences and Technology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran Amir TAVAKOLI KARESHK Dept. of Parasitology and Mycology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran Hosein MAHMOUDVAND Dept. of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran Arghavan VAFAFAR Dept. of Parasitology and Mycology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran Naser ZIAALI Research Center for Tropical and Infectious Diseases, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran 2017 06 12 2017 06 12 Background: The present study aimed to characterize genetically and to compare the most frequently occurring strains of Trichomonas vaginalis isolated from southern Iran.Methods: Totally, 150 vaginal swab and urine specimens were collected from symptomatic and asymptomatic women from May 2012 to Jun 2013.This study implemented a sensitive and reliable PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) typing method on the actin gene. Moreover, one representative sample of each identified genotype was subjected to sequencing.Results: Twenty-four T. vaginalis isolates were positive and6 distinct electrophoretic patterns (H, E, G, I, M, N) were identified. Genotypes H and I were found to be more prevalent (50 and 37.5%) in Kerman and Shiraz, respectively. The phylogenetic analysis showed that two isolates were located as a separated clade with the other T. vaginalis isolates.Conclusion: The obtained findings showed a considerable genetic polymorphism of clinical isolates from the population studied. More studies may be warranted in future as to unveiling any possible links between a given genotype/cluster and pathogenic behavior of T. vaginalis. https://ijpa.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijpa/article/view/1631 https://ijpa.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijpa/article/download/1631/749