ISSN 2736-1756
Advanced Journal of Microbiology Research ISSN 2241-9837 Vol. 12 (7), pp. 001-006, July, 2018. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
HIV/vaginal candida coinfection: Risk factors in women
E. U. Umeh* and B. I. Umeakanne
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria.
Accepted 12 February, 2018
Abstract
To assess the association between candida and HIV infections in women from different socio-economic backgrounds, vaginal swabs were collected from 510 women (aged 9 - 83 years) attending secondary healthcare units in southern part of Benue State, Nigeria. CANDIDA ALBICANS was identified by microscopy. Candida infection rate was higher among HIV-infected women (88.8%, n = 116) than among HIV negative subjects (58.6%, n = 394) (Χ2 = 36.077, p < 0.05; odds ratio = 5.59, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 3.03 - 10.297). Candida (yeast) infection was significantly associated with HIV infection in pregnant subjects (r = 0.504, p < 0.05), married (r = .290, p < 0.05), and unmarried women (r = 0.259, p < 0.05); in married women (and also unmarried women) vaginal yeast infection was significantly correlated/associated with HIV infection (p < 0.05). In other words, the higher the number of married women who were HIV+, the higher the number with candidal yeast infection; in women ≤ 39 years old (r =0.399, p < 0.05), civil servants (r = 0.328, p < 0.05), self/unemployed (r = 0.281, p < 0.05), and among university and secondary school students (r = 0.263, p < 0.05). All diabetic women (100%, n=106) had yeast infection, although only 3.8% of them were HIV-infected. Intervention programmes against yeast infections in HIV-infected women should be targeted at the vulnerable groups of women.
Key words: HIV, candida infection, HIV/Candida co-infection, pregnancy, diabetes, Idoma women.