Vulvovaginitis Prevalence Among Women in Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia: Special Emphasis on Aerobic Vaginitis Causing Bacterial Profile, Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern, and Associated Factors

BACKGROUND: Genital tract infections are posing a series of public health challenges for women in both developed and developing countries. Microbial infections of the vagina can lead to serious medical complications such as preterm labor, amniotic fluid infection, premature rupture of the fetal membranes, and low birth weight of the neonate, leading to high perinatal morbidity and mortality. In Ethiopia, limited information is found on the burden, antimicrobial susceptibility profile and associated factors for aerobic vaginitis. Thus, this study was aimed to determine the burden of AV, antimicrobial susceptibility profile of aerobic bacterial isolates and associated factors among women attending Gondar town health facilities, northwest Ethiopia. METHODS: A health facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 214 study participants from February 1 to May 31, 2019. For all consecutive women, demographic variables were collected using a structured questionnaire and two vaginal swabs for each were collected. The diagnosis of AV and BV was based on the composite score of Donders and Nugent criteria, respectively. All bacteria were isolated and characterized by conventional culture techniques. The antimicrobial susceptibility pattern was performed using the disc diffusion technique. Logistic regression, univariate and multivariate analysis were carried out. A p-value ≤ 0.05 at 95% CI was considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of vulvovaginitis among women was 50%. The identified aetiologies of vulvovaginitis were bacterial vaginosis (35.5%), candidiasis (23.8%), aerobic vaginitis (22.9%) and trichomoniasis (3.3%). Aerobic bacteria, especially Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli, were predominantly isolated in the vaginal samples. The prevalence of the multidrug resistance rate was 38.98%. The isolated Gram positive bacteria were sensitive to antibiotics like vancomycin, cefoxitin, ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, and gentamicin, whereas the Gram negative bacteria isolates were sensitive to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin and meropenem. CONCLUSION: The high burden of bacterial vaginosis and aerobic vaginitis was reported. Therefore, regular screening of women using microbiological diagnosis should be promoted. The common bacteria isolated were Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli. Additionally, antibiotics like vancomycin, cefoxitin, ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, gentamicin, and meropenem were shown to have good action against the majority of bacteria isolates.