Trichomonas vaginalis infection in a low-risk women attended in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Clinic, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the presence of trichomoniasis among women attending the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Clinic, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre. Methods A total of 139 high vaginal swabs were taken from the subjects and sent to the laboratory in Amies gel transport media. The specimens were examined for the presence of Trichomonas vaginalis using wet mount, Giemsa staining and cultured in Diamond's medium. Sociodemographic characteristics and gynaecological complaints were obtained in private using structured questionnaire applied by one investigator. Results The median age was 32 years, with an interquartile interval of 9.96. Most of the subjects were Malays (76.9%) and the remaining were Chinese (15.1%), Indians (2.2%) and other ethnic groups (5.8%). One hundred and thirty eight (99.3%) of the women were married and 98.6% had less than 6 children. More than half (75.5%) of the women's last child birth was less than 6 years ago. Forty seven percent of them were involved in supporting administrative work and 64.7% of the women gave a history of previous or current vaginal discharge. Conclusions The present study reported zero incidence rate of trichomoniasis. The low incidence rate was postulated due to all women who participated in this study were categorized into a low-risk group.