Ngozi Mirabel Otuonye
Posters: J Microb Biochem Technol
Vaginal infections are common among HIV/AIDS-infected women. Symptomatic vaginal yeast infections are increased among HIV-infected women with low CD4 + lymphocyte counts in the absence of antifungal prophylaxis. Three hundred eighty seven patients who presented to the HIV Clinic with symptoms of lower abdominal pain, itching and abnormal vaginal discharge were selected after obtaining written informed consent. High vaginal/cervical swabs were collected, cultured and processed using standard microbiological methods. Anti-microbial sensitivity patterns of the isolates were determined. The characteristics of the discharge, vaginal pH>4.5, presence of ?clue cell? and Amine test with 10% KOH were used for BV investigations. The age range of study population was between 20?45 years with mean of 24+.128 (38.46%) had lower abdominal pain, itching/irritation, 200 (64.10%) and 30 (9.61%) had blisters on their genitals. Vaginal pH>5.0 was recorded in 215 (68.91%) of the patients. A total of 80.6% of HIV/AIDS women were infected with microbial infection. Microbial agents isolated were as follows: Candida species 163 (52.2%), BV 77 (24.6%), bacteria 66 (21.2%) and T. vaginalis 6 (2.0%).Thirty bacterial isolates co-infected with Candida species, 3 T. vaginalis co-infected with Candida species, 15 BV co-infected with other bacterial pathogen. Four patients had triple infection of BV, yeast and bacteria. Most of the bacterial isolates were sensitive to Ciprofloxacin, Ofloxacin and levofloxacin. Microbial infections in HIV/AIDS women was statistical significant (p>5.0). Treating HIV positive woman presenting with abnormal vaginal discharge would reduce HIV transmission to her sexual partners and perinatal HIV transmission.
Ngozi Mirabel Otuonye is a Chief Medical Laboratory Scientist working with the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research Lagos. Nigeria. She is a member of the European and Developing Country Clinical Trials Partnership Scientific Review Committee (EDCTP) andthe PI of the EDCTP sponsored Project ?Establishment of Health Research Ethics and Capacity Building of Human Resources and Infrastructure in Nigeria?. She is a winner of HIV Research Trust Scholarship (HIVRT12-082). Her current research is focused on the ?Role of Human Leukocyte Antigen Class 1 genotype in HIV-1 Transmission in Sero-discordant Couples in Nigeria. She has published her results in eighteen peer -reviewed journals.