Assessment of The Incidence of Candidiasis Among Single and Married Women

The genital tract is the portal of entry for numerous sexually and non-sexually transmitted diseases. A number of bacterial and non-bacterial infections exist that affect the female reproductive tract and cause vaginal discharge. Vaginal discharge is a common symptom in primary health care and is often the second most common gynecological problem after menstrual disorders. This study was carried out to determine incidence of candidiasis among single and married women in Ekpoma. The study population comprises of single and married women in Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria. A total of 100 samples of High Vaginal Swabs (HVS) were sampled for this study. High vaginal swabs were collected from single and married women using a clean sterile vaginal swab sticks after the passages of a sterile bivale speculum. Two vaginal swabs were taken from each woman, the first swab was subjected to microscopic wet smear examination and Gram stained while the second was cultured. All vaginal swabs were correctly and carefully examined and cultured aerobically and facultatively in aerobic condition on blood agar and Sabourd Dextrose agar. The results of this study showed that the incidence of candidiasis was higher in married women when compared with single women. The prevalence of candidiasis in married women is 18(28%), while in single women is 10(20%). It was observed in this study that the distribution of candidiasis among married and single is not statistically significant (p>0.05). The result on age distribution in married women however showed that out of 25 married women within the age range of 24-30 years, 11(44%) were infected with candida, 31-35 years had a prevalence of 5(33.3%) and 36-40 years had a prevalence of 2(20%). This distribution was statistically significant (p<0.05). Also the result on age distribution of single women show that out of 22 single women within the age range of less than 20 years, 3(13.64%) were infected with candida, 21-25 years had a prevalence of 5(41.67%) and 26-30 years had a prevalence of 2(12.50%). This distribution was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Hence it could be concluded that married and single women are predisposed to candidiasis.