Detection and Prevalence of Genital Pathogens among Attendees of Sti Clinic of a Tertiary Care Hospital in Ibadan, Southwestern Nigeria

This study aimed at detecting and determining the prevalence of genital pathogens among attendees of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) clinic of a tertiary care hospital in Ibadan, Southwestern Nigeria. One hundred consecutive patients (43 males and 57 females) who attended the STI clinic of a tertiary care hospital at Ibadan, with one or more of the complaints as enunciated by WHO in its syndromic approach for the diagnosis of STIs, were included as subjects. Detailed history, demographical data and clinical features were recorded and screened for common STIs by standard microbiological methods. Samples of urethral swab (for the males), endocervical and high vaginal swab (for the females) were collected per patients and processed using standard laboratory procedures for the isolation of genital isolates. The results obtained were analysed using SPSS 17.0 statistical methods. Majority came with the complaint of genital discharge (18 males; 20 females), followed by candidiasis (7 females), gonococcal urethtitis (5 males), haematuria and infertility (3 males, 3 females), PID (2 females) and dysuria (1 female) while 22.0% did not state their clinical presentations and 19.0% came for check ups. Though no Trichomonas vaginalis was detected in the samples examined; Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Gardnerella vaginalis, Klebsiella species and Escherichia coli was found in the same proportion (25.0% respectively). In conclusion, this study showed a high prevalence of genital bacterial infection. The genital colonization by these isolates (Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Gardnerella vaginalis) among the patients was high (25.0%), thus, emphasizing the importance of routine screening of patients thereby assisting in prevention of bacterial STIs.