ABSTRACT
The present study was planned to show the prevalence of Trichomonas vaginalis among reproductive age group women attended the private clinics complaining of gynecological and urinary symptoms and to compare the efficacy of metronidazole and secnizole in eradicating Trichomonas vaginalis in women. A study was carried out on 210 women [47 pregnant and 163 non pregnant] attended private clinics in Kirkuk, Iraq, for the period from 1[st] of February to 1[st] of July 2004. Each patient examined clinically, vaginal swabs and urine samples were examined microscopically to detect Trichomonas vaginalis. The Trichomonas vaginalis positive cases and their husbands were divided into two groups, one group was treated with metronidazole and the second group with secnizole. It was found that the prevalence of Trichomonas vaginalis was [29.05%], the infection rate in pregnant women was [42.55%]. The highest rate of infection was among pregnant women in third trimester of pregnancy [58.33%]. The infection rate in non pregnant women was [25.15%]. The commonest clinical symptoms among positive cases was vaginal discharge followed by itching, dysuria and dyspareunia. It was found that the efficacy of secnizole was greater than metronidazole in eradicating Trichomonas vaginalis infection and the rate of resistant cases treated with metronidazole 7[30.8%] was higher than those treated with secnizole 3[10.3%]