Epidemiology of Trichomonas vaginalis among women in Lagos metropolis, Nigeria.

A total of 544 women outpatients comprising 320 and 224 from Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos and Military Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, respectively, were examined for Trichomonas vaginalis infection. Both wet mount microscopy and Giemsa staining technique were used. A prevalence of 3.3% was recorded from the 544 women using both methods, 5.4% in the Military Hospital and 1.9% from LUTH. The difference in prevalence was statistically significant using Chi-square test analysis (p<0.05). Age group 21-30 years had the highest prevalence of 1.8%; A higher prevalence of 2.9% was recorded among married women compared to 0.4% prevalence in unmarried women. About one-fifth of the infected individuals were asymptomatic. Symptomatic patients had characteristic symptoms such as greenish yellow vaginal discharge (33.3%), itching/pruritus (22.2%) and malodorous discharge (11.1%) Water system toilet users had the highest prevalence of T. vaginalis infection compared to others using different types of toilet facilities. About 1% of T. vaginalis infection were mixed with Candida albicans. Single infections of Candida albicans was recorded in 33.6% of the total population examined. Sexual promiscuity, age and socio-economic status were important contributory factors in the pattern of infection amongst studied population.