EZENWA CHIKA MAUREEN, UKAGA CHINYERE, OBUM NNADI CHARITY AND OBASI CHIDERA
Abstract
To determine the prevalence and types of concomitant malaria and bacterial/mycoticReproductive Tract Infections within the study area. Cervico-vaginal swabs were collected from 200participating women using dry cotton and Dacron by placing them in the vaginal cavity for 10 seconds,removed and immediately rolled onto a slide for diagnosis of BV., C. trachomatis, N. gonorrhoea, T. vaginalisand other RTIs by PCR. The swabs were stored at -20 oC for a few hours pending extraction which wasconducted within 24 hours. For Malaria diagnosis and microscopy, thick blood films were stained using 10%Giemsa. A total of 18 attendees (9.05%) had Bacterial Vaginosis, 8 (4%) had Trichomoniasis while 8 (4%) and4 (2%) had Gonorrhea and Syphilis respectively. 82(41%) had malaria infection only while 96 (48%) had nomalaria infection. 22(11%) had malaria and co-infection of reproductive tract infections (RTIs). There wasno significant difference in concomitant malaria infections and RTIs between pregnant women and nonpregnant ones. P>0.001. Pregnancy was found not ot affect prevalence of Reproductive Tract Infections. Thefindings highlight the importance of an integrated approach to malaria and reproductive tract infectionscontrol during pregnancy.