Candidiasis and trichomoniasis among pregnant women in a rural community in the semi-arid zone, north-eastern Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the prevalence of trichomoniasis and candidiasis among women resident in Biu, a rural community in the semi-arid region of North-eastern Nigeria.

METHODS

The study was conducted between October 2003 and June 2004, involved a total of 311 women aged 16-37 years and at various stages of pregnancy.

RESULTS

Some of the women manifested clinical symptoms like vulval pruritus and vaginal discharges and had been referred to a private medical diagnostic laboratory for examination. Wet saline preparations of vaginal swabs were examined microscopically for trophozoites of Trichomonas vaginalis and yeast cells followed by culture in Sabouraud dextrose agar to enhance the isolation of Candida albicans. Among the women examined, 201 (64.6%) were infected with either Trichomonas vaginalis (8.4%) or Candida albicans (56.3%). Mixed infections of the two organisms were not encountered. Unlike T. vaginalis, Candida albicans were more frequently isolated from women who had clinical symptoms than those without obvious symptoms (P<0.05). The trimester of pregnancy did not significantly influence (P>0.05) the recovery of any of the organisms from the patients.

CONCLUSION

It concluded that candidiasis and trichimoniasis are prevalent in pregnant women in North-eastern Nigeria and that the trimester of pregnancy does not appear to influence the prevalence of these diseases in the area.