Prevalence of vulvovaginal candidiasis, bacterial vaginosis and trichomoniasis in pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in the middle belt of Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Vaginal infections usually caused by Candida sp, organisms responsible for bacterial vaginosis and Trichomonas vaginalis are associated with considerable discomfort and adverse outcomes during pregnancy and child birth. The study determined the prevalence of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), bacterial vaginosis (BV) and trichomoniasis (TV) in pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the Kintampo Municipal Hospital. METHODS: A study adopted a cross sectional design and recruited 589 pregnant women after seeking their informed consent from September, 2014 to March, 2015. Semi-structured questionnaire were administered to participants and vaginal swabs were collected. The samples were analysed using wet mount method and Gram stain (Nugent criteria) for vaginal infection. Univariate and multivariate analysis were used to investigate association of risk factors to vaginal infections. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of at least one vaginal infection was 56.4%. The prevalence of vulvovaginal candidiasis, bacterial vaginosis and trichomoniasis were 36.5, 30.9 and 1.4% respectively. Women with more than four previous pregnancies (OR: 0.27, 95% CI: 0.13-0.58) and those in the third trimester of pregnancy (OR: 0.54, CI: 0.30-0.96) were associated with a lower risk of bacterial vaginosis. Douching and antibiotic use were neither associated with VVC or BV. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of vaginal infections was high among pregnant women in the Kintampo area. There is the need for interventions such as adequate investigations and early treatment of vaginal infections to reduce the disease burden to avoid associated complications.

Antibiotic use in food animals worldwide, with a focus on Africa: Pluses and minuses.

Antibiotics are frequently used in food animal production in developing countries to promote the well-being and growth of animals. This practice provides some economic benefits to producers and consumers at large. Nevertheless, this practice is also associated with a number of concerns. A major concern has been that repeatedly exposing these animals to small doses of antibiotics contributes significantly to antimicrobial resistance, since a good fraction of the antibiotics used are the same or surrogates of antibiotics used in human therapeutic practices. Studies over decades have shown an explicit relationship between antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance in veterinary science. Many antibiotics can be purchased over the counter in African countries, and antibiotic resistance is an important issue to address in this region. This review examines some of the risks and benefits associated with antibiotic use in food animals. We conclude that the use of antibiotics in food animal production constitutes a major contributing factor to the current antimicrobial resistance crisis and that antibiotics should only be used for the treatment of sick animals based on prior diagnosis of disease.