DOI: 10.36347/gamj.2022.v03i03.001

Pages: 10-17

A study was conducted to isolate and identify bacterial and fungal microbes associated with women with infertility in Imo State, Nigeria, as well as conduct an antimicrobial assessment of the isolates. The prevalence of these isolates were partitioned based on age, marital status, number of sexual partners and contraceptive use on one hand, as well as level of knowledge, attitude and practices of women to infertility on the other hand. Six species of bacteria and one fungal specie was isolated from the Endo Cervical Swabs (ECS) of women which includes Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella species, Proteus mirabilis, Streptococcus pyogenes and Neisseria gonorrhoeae, while the fungal specie is Candida albicans. While Staph. aureus remains the most significant pathogenic microbe among the women (31.4%), Neisseria gonorrhoeae had the least infection (5.8%). Candida albicans was the only fungal specie infecting 13.9% of the women. While the seven pathogens infected all the age groups tested, Staph.aureus, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Strept.pyogen were more prevalent in age group 18-25years. In the three marital status considered i.e. married, separated and widowed, the separated women (36.36%) were predominantly infected with Staph.aureus and E.coli, followed by widowed women, while the married ones were least infected. Meanwhile the women with 3 sex partners had the highest infection of the pathogenic isolates (33.33%). The antibiotic susceptibility test revealed that Ciprofloxacin and L-flox (99% & 98%) appear to be the most effective invitro antibiotic for all the bacterial isolates. Fluzoral (84.20%) was most susceptible to Candida albicans. In terms of attitude and practices of women to infertility, the study revealed that men are mostly attributed as the main source of these pathogens and are blamed for difficulty/inability to conceive.