Factors Associated with <i>Trichomonas Vaginalis</i> Infection among Pregnant Women in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria

Abstract

A study on the factors associated with Trichomonas vaginalis infection was carried out among pregnant women who attended ante-natal clinics at Plateau State Specialist Hospital and Our Lady of Apostles (OLA) Maternity
Hospital between January and April, 2012.All the women were married. Two diagnostic techniques, the Osom Trichomonas Rapid Test and the wet mount techniques were used for the detection of T. vaginalis in high vaginal swab samples of the women. Out of the 320 samples examined the former technique detected the parasite in 19 (5.9%) of the samples compared with 9(2.8%) by the latter. There was a significant difference between the two methods (p<0.05). Thus, the results of the  OsomTrichomonas Rapid Test were used for analysis of data. Among the different age groups, infection rate was highest, 1(16.7%) among women aged 40 years and above and least 2(3.2%) among age group 21–25 years. However, the differences were not significant (p>0.05). There were no significant differences (p>0.05) between the demographic, behavioural and reproductive health characteristics of the women viz; types of toilet, frequency of douching, gravidity, pregnancy trimesters, education, occupation and epithelial cells. The only risk factor was polygamy (number of wives); (p<0.05). Four (21.1%) of the positive women had polygamous husbands and 15(78.9%) had monogamous husbands. The results suggested that there is cycle of infection and re-infection among pregnant women with polygamous husbands and this mighty constitute a problem for effective treatment and control of trichomoniasis in the study area.

Keywords: Trichomonas vaginalis, OsomTrichomonas Rapid  Test,douching,pregnant women and epithelial cells.