Prevalence of trichomonas vaginalis among pregnant women in abakaliki, Ebonyi state

The study determined the prevalence of Trichomonas vaginalis among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics. A total of 1,025 single and married pregnant women within the age range of 15-40 years who had no known medical risk factors for preterm labor birth were enrolled from three hospitals of tertiary, secondary and primary levels. Vaginal smear samples were collected from the pregnant women with gestational age range of 14-36 weeks. Diagnosis of trichomoniasis was predicted based on the method of cultivation in cystein peptone liver maltose (CPLM) media. The prevalence of 12.3% (126 out of 1,025) was obtained. The results also showed that when age and marital status were compared with infection, no significant difference was observed (P ≥ 0.05), but the infection was found to be dependent on literacy level, trimester and parity. Conclusively, trichomoniasis should be stressed during awareness campaign of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), during ante-natal sessions as well as at secondary education level to educate the young girls.