Prevalence of bacterial vaginosis and aerobic vaginitis and their associated risk factors among pregnant women from northern Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of bacterial vaginosis (BV) and aerobic vaginitis (AV) and their associated risk factors among pregnant women from Ethiopia. Also, this study investigated the bacterial pathogens and their antibiotic resistance in AV cases. A total of 422 pregnant women from northern Ethiopia were participated in this study. Socio-demographic and clinical data were recorded. Vaginal swabs were collected and used for wet mount and Gram stain methods to evaluate the AV and BV scores according to the Nugent’s and Donder’s criteria, respectively. In AV cases the bacterial pathogens and their antibiotic resistance were determined using standard methods. The possible risk factors for AV and BV in pregnant women were investigated. The prevalence rates of BV and AV were 20.1% (85/422) and 8.1% (34/422), respectively. BV was more common in symptomatic vs. asymptomatic people (P < 0.001), and in second trimester vs. first trimester samples (P = 0.042). However, AV was more common in secondary school vs. primary and those who were unable to read and write (P = 0.021) and in housewife women vs. employee (P = 0.013). A total of 44 bacterial strains were isolated from AV cases, of which the coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) (38.6%) and Staphylococcus aureus (29.5%) were the most predominant bacteria, respectively. The highest resistance rate was observed against penicillin (100.0%) in staphylococci, while 86.7% of them were sensitive to ciprofloxacin. The resistance rate of Enterobacteriaceae ranged from 0.0% for ciprofloxacin and chloramphenicol to 100.0% against amoxicillin/clavulanate. The prevalence of BV was higher than AV in pregnant women. This higher prevalence of BV suggests that measures should be taken to reduce the undesired consequences related to BV in the pregnancy. The circulation of drug-resistant bacteria in vaginal infections requires a global surveillance to reduce the risks to pregnant mothers and infants.

A Study of Bacterial Vaginosis and Associated Risk Factors among Married Women in Zakho City, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

“…In contrast to the present study, other reports found that history of recurrent infection, people how lived on the rural area, educational levels and women aged more than 45 years had significant associated with the infection rate (Geng et al, 2016;Kamga et al, 2019;Yalew et al, 2022).…”

“…However, the infection rate in such the report performed in Cameron (26.2%) (Kamga et al, 2019), Nepal (24.4%) (Ranjit et al, 2018), India (24%) (Modak et al, 2011). However, the infection rate in such different countries; India (19.6%) (Gupta et al, 2016), Brazil (20.7%) (Gondo et al, 2010), Nigeria (17.3%) (Ibrahim et al, 2014) and Ethiopia (20.1%) (Yalew et al, 2022). This discrepancy could be due to random sample variation, population size, analysis methods, distribution of geographical area, differences in the socioeconomic and behavioural among studied population.…”

A study on vaginitis among pregnant and non-pregnant females in Alexandria, Egypt: An unexpected high rate of mixed vaginal infection

“…As both Nugent's scores and Amsel's criteria have inherent limitations, DNA-based assays targeting BV are reproducible and may be used to diagnose difficult cases [28] . A lower BV prevalence was reported in an Ethiopian study, in which BV was diagnosed using Nugent's score in 20.1% of the patients [29] . The prevalence in other African countries was reported to be also lower; in a meta-analysis, the prevalence of BV in sub-Saharan Africa was 42.1% [30] .…”

Optimization of Antibacterial Therapy for Nonspecific Vaginitis in Women of Reproductive Age

“…(3-33,3%), Acinetobacter spp. (6,8%) [6][7][8][9][10]. Полімікробний фактор виникнення НВ та здатність бактерій виробляти резистентність до різних лікувальних речовин не дають змогу стандартизувати лікування, особливо для АВ, що і призводить до високої частоти рецидивів НВ в перший рік після терапії і складає від 30% до 70% [11,12,13] Критерії невключення у дослідження: жінки, хворі на НВ, молодше 18 та старше 49 років; жінки, хворі на НВ кандидозної або трихомонозної етіології; наявність в анамнезі операцій на статевих або органах гіпоталамо-гіпофізарно-надниркової системи; наявність об'ємних новоутворень жіночих статевих органів; наявність захворювань гіпоталамо-гіпофізарно-надниркової системи; наявність суб-і декомпенсованих супутніх захворювань; наявність онкохвороби; наявність цукрового діабету; наявність хвороб обміну речовин; наявність аутоімунних захворювань.…”