TITLE:
Prevalence of Vaginal Candidiasis and Determination of the Occurrence of Candida Species in Pregnant Women Attending the Antenatal Clinic of Thika District Hospital, Kenya
AUTHORS:
Menza Nelson, Wanyoike Wanjiru, Muturi W. Margaret
KEYWORDS:
Vaginal Candidiasis; Occurrence of Candida Species; Pregnant Women
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Medical Microbiology,
Vol.3 No.4,
December
20,
2013
ABSTRACT: Epidemiological monitoring of vaginal candidiasis
infections associated with preterm delivery and death of the infant is highly
desirable especially in pregnant women. The objectives were to determine the prevalence of vaginal candidiasis and the
occurrence of Candida species in pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic of Thika
District Hospital, Kenya. Vaginal swabs were collected from 104 pregnant
women between the months of June and August 2010. The Candida species
were identified by standard mycological and biochemical methods and the
prevalence was determined by, where: O is the
number of individuals with the disease and P is the total number of individuals in the population involved in the study. Out
of 104 samples obtained from the pregnant women with symptoms of vaginal
candidiasis, 94 (90.38%) patients were tested positive and 10 (9.62%) were tested
negative for vaginal candidiasis. The percentage distribution of vaginal candidiasis
within age group was highest in the age brackets 26 - 35 years
with 56(60%) patients and in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy with
64(68.09%) patients. The percentage occurrence of vaginal Candida species showed that Candida albicans was the most isolated species with
60(63.83%) isolates. The results indicated a high prevalence of vaginal
candidiasis: 42.7%. The women at great risk were those between 26 - 35 years
and in their 3rd trimester. Candida albicans was the most
prevalent vaginal Candida species across all age groups and trimesters.