CONCOMITANT MALARIAL INFECTION AND PATHOGENICMICROBIOTA IN THE REPRODUCTIVE TRACT OF PREGNANTWOMEN IN ORLU, IMO STATE, NIGERIAEZENWA CHIKA MAUREEN, UKAGA CHINYERE, OBUM NNADI CHARITY AND OBASI CHIDERAAbstract 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. |