P402 Asymptomatic trichomoniasis among women of childbearing age in south-western Nigeria

Background Trichomoniasis is a common sexually transmitted infection (STI) globally. The disease is complicated with an increased risk of STIs, infertility, adverse pregnancy outcome and postoperative infections. We evaluated the prevalence of trichomoniasis among women of childbearing age in Oyo state, South-western Nigeria. Methods This cross-sectional community-based study included a total of 222 women recruited from both urban and rural areas of two randomly selected Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Oyo State, South-western Nigeria. Pelvic examinations for signs of STIs were carried out on both symptomatic and asymptomatic participants. High vaginal swabs were collected from the sides of the vaginal wall to screen for the presence of sexually transmitted organisms. These swabs were subjected to DNA extraction using Quick-DNA mini Prep ZYMO kits. The extracted DNAs were analysed by CFX-96 Real-time PCR using the AllplexTM Assay system (Seegene, Seoul, Korea). Results The mean age of the participants was 37.0 years ± 9.0 (range 18–55), 37.8% (84/222) were in their thirties and 80.6% were married. Most of them (45.9%) were educated to the tertiary level and 53.6% lived in urban areas. The mean calculated body mass index (BMI) was 26.9 ± 5.5 (Range 14.7 – 46.6) and 65.8% were obese or grossly obese. At the time of enrolment, 106 (47.7%) were asymptomatic. Trichomonas vaginalis was the commonest organisms detected (36/222, 16.2%), followed by Ureaplasma parvum (26/222, 11.7%), Mycoplasma hominis (16/222, 7.2%), U. urealyticum (11/222, 5.0%) and Mycoplasma genitalium infection (0.5%). The prevalence of Trichomoniasis was commoner among asymptomatic participants (19/222, 17.9%/17/222, 14.9%), though not statistically significant (OR = 0.8 (0.4–1.6) P>0.05, ). Conclusion Routine testing for T. vaginalis infection is advocated in all women seeking care for genital-related diseases, in addition to screening for T. vaginalis in women at high risk of STI.