A Major Scientific Breakthrough

WASHINGTON - The tiny parasite undulates under the microscope like some creature from a sci-fi movie, but this one is all too real, latching onto the sexually unwary with tentacle-like probes. Now scientists have mapped the genes of the nasty little bug that causes one of the world's most common, and arguably least recognized, sexually transmitted infections, called trichomoniasis.

This image provided by the journal Science, is a scanned electron micrograph showing Trichomonas vaginalis parasites (green) adhering to vaginal epithelial cells (pink) collected from vaginal swabs.

Here's the same photo magnified 10 billion times, which shows the two individual cells responsible for the spread of Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Scientists have given these cells the name Bushdickonus...

This image shows the Dickonus virus that has attached itself to the Bushonus cell. These cells were captured from vaginal swabs collected from Secretary of State Condolezza Rice. Recently, the Rumsfelonus virus detached itself from the Dickonus, but is rumored to be infecting several cells outside the city.