ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to examine the bacteria that cause vaginal infection in female students. Vaginal infection with bacterial vaginosis, candiasis and trichomoniasis are a global health problem for women. Other specific objectives are to determine the bacterial load, to ascertain the associated bacterial isolates and to determine the frequency of occurrence of the bacterial isolates and to determine the susceptibility pattern of the isolates to some antibiotics. This study was conducted using selected 20 female students of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State aged 16 to 29 years. Vaginal swabs were obtained twice weekly. The bacterial isolates from the samples were examined for appearance based on shape, elevation, edge and pigmentation. The higher number of bacterial growth observed in this study suggested an infection process by organism E. coli and S. aureus. The most effective chemotherapeutic agents observed against E. coli in this study were ciprofloxacin which had (17s) and tarivid (17s) which is 100%, for S. aureus ciprofloxacin and tarivid had 11s which was 100% also, the least activity in E. coli was penicillin, colistin, gentamycin. The result obtained from this study have revealed a high vaginal infection among female students of Michael Okpara University, therefore the study recommended that the use of condoms or total abstinence should be encouraged among the female undergraduates and the females should always clean from forward to backward after using the toilet so as not to transfer the microorganism from the bowel to the vagina.