Studies on the incidence of Trichomonas vaginalis amongst pregnant women in Jos area of Plateau State, Nigeria.

An investigation was carried out on the incidence of Trichomonas vaginalis amongst pregnant women in Jos area of Plateau State, Nigeria. The pregnant women were made up of 250 women from Jos metropolis and 250 women from Jos rural area. Jos Metropolis women were found to have 37.6% rate of infection while Jos rural women were found to have 24.8% rate of infection. The pH range of the infected women was found to lie between 6-8. Their vaginal discharges were found to be frothy and greenish-yellow with a typical odour. Some had vulval irritations. Some reported that they had slight temperature rises above 37 degrees C in the nights. The infected women either belonged to the working class or were self employed. There was more infection amongst the working class women in the metropolis while the opposite was the case in Jos rural area. Some of the infected women had trichomoniasis alone while some were found to have mixed infection like trichomoniasis and candidosis, trichomoniasis and gonorrhoea or trichomoniasis, candidosis and gonorrhoea. The implications of these results are discussed.